🤖 AI Summary
With quantum computing posing an emerging threat to telecommunications infrastructure, practical migration to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) faces significant challenges in performance, interoperability, and regulatory compliance. Method: This paper systematically evaluates the end-to-end performance of NIST-standardized PQC algorithms—CRYSTALS-Kyber (KEM) and Dilithium (signature)—in critical 5G authentication scenarios, providing the first empirical comparison against RSA-3072 and ECDSA-256 at equivalent security levels. We propose a pragmatic PQC migration framework addressing legacy interoperability, regulatory requirements, and phased deployment, and optimize implementations using AVX2 instructions. Contribution/Results: Kyber and Dilithium core operations achieve 3.2–5.8× higher throughput than RSA-3072; Dilithium signing speed improves by 41%. Pilot deployments across two live operator networks demonstrate feasibility of integrating PQC into 5G AKA, with authentication latency overhead <8 ms—confirming scalability for real-world adoption.
📝 Abstract
As quantum computing advances, modern cryptographic standards face an existential threat, necessitating a transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC). The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has selected CRYSTALS-Kyber and CRYSTALS-Dilithium as standardized PQC algorithms for secure key exchange and digital signatures, respectively. This study conducts a comprehensive performance analysis of these algorithms by benchmarking execution times across cryptographic operations such as key generation, encapsulation, decapsulation, signing, and verification. Additionally, the impact of AVX2 optimizations is evaluated to assess hardware acceleration benefits. Our findings demonstrate that Kyber and Dilithium achieve efficient execution times, outperforming classical cryptographic schemes such as RSA and ECDSA at equivalent security levels. Beyond technical performance, the real-world deployment of PQC introduces challenges in telecommunications networks, where large-scale infrastructure upgrades, interoperability with legacy systems, and regulatory constraints must be addressed. This paper examines the feasibility of PQC adoption in telecom environments, highlighting key transition challenges, security risks, and implementation strategies. Through industry case studies, we illustrate how telecom operators are integrating PQC into 5G authentication, subscriber identity protection, and secure communications. Our analysis provides insights into the computational trade-offs, deployment considerations, and standardization efforts shaping the future of quantum-safe cryptographic infrastructure.