Optimizing SIKE for blockchain-based IoT ecosystems with resource constraints

Abstract Blockchain technology offers a robust framework for integration with the Internet of Things (IoT), enhancing interoperability, security, privacy, and scalability in modern technological ecosystems. However, traditional cryptographic protocols used in blockchain systems are increasingly vulnerable to quantum attacks due to advancements in quantum computing. In response, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has prioritized research in post-quantum cryptography, presenting challenges and opportunities for developing blockchain-based applications tailored to IoT devices. Among the post-quantum cryptographic schemes evaluated in NIST's third standardization round, the Supersingular Isogeny Key Encapsulation (SIKE) protocol stands out for its relatively small public and private key sizes. Despite this advantage, SIKE faces challenges related to high latency, necessitating efficient implementations to make it viable for real-world applications. This research focuses on optimizing the cryptographic foundations of blockchain networks to securely and efficiently integrate resource-constrained IoT ecosystems. By enhancing the SIKE protocol, which exhibits strong resistance to brute-force and whitewashing attacks, the study achieves significant performance improvements. Our FPGA-based implementation on the VIRTEX-6 XC6VLX760 demonstrates reduced latency, achieving a key generation time of 24 ms, encapsulation time of 72 ms, and decapsulation time of 73 ms for SIKEp434. These results highlight the feasibility of deploying SIKE-optimized blockchain networks in IoT environments with stringent resource constraints.