Leveraging Quantum Storage Mechanism for Digital Forensic Readiness Towards Smart City Security

The increasing digitization of urban infrastructure has introduced advanced efficiency and connectivity in smart cities while exposing them to sophisticated cybersecurity threats. This study explores how Quantum Storage Mechanisms (QSM) can be integrated with digital forensic readiness systems to enhance smart city security and incident response. Through a simulated environment, the research evaluates the effectiveness of QSM against three critical cyberattack scenarios: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), sensor spoofing, and supply chain firmware attacks. The findings reveal that QSM-enabled systems outperform traditional cybersecurity tools by ensuring tamper-proof evidence collection, real-time threat detection, and secure long-term data retention. The study also introduces a Unified Threat Score (St) model to assess threat severity across scenarios, demonstrating quantum-enhanced solutions’ operational resilience and forensic integrity. While the research is theoretical and based on simulations, it lays a strong foundation for the real-world deployment of quantum-secured forensic frameworks. The results underscore the necessity of integrating quantum, AI, and blockchain technologies to future-proof smart cities against evolving cyber-physical threats.