Secure Authenticated Post-Quantum Key Agreement Scheme Based on Ring Learning with Errors for Cyber-Physical Power System

The integration of communication technologies has made authentication a crucial security element in the cyberphysical power system (CPPS) scenario. Since it offers a range of security services, such as credentials privacy, session-key (SK) security, and safe mutual authentication, authentication plays a significant role in the CPPS context. In this article, the threat of quantum attacks to the security of CPPS is analyzed. The attacks are developed based on the principles of quantum computing, and they can easily compromise SK security under the wellaccepted traditional difficulty problems of discrete logarithms and large integer factorization. A new efficient and secure authenticated post-quantum key agreement scheme is proposed for CPPS, leveraging ring learning with errors (RLWE) problem to achieve the security functionalities, for example, SK security. In the RLWE problem, a number-theoretic transform method is investigated to improve the efficiency of the proposed scheme. Moreover, the Indistinguishability under Chosen Ciphertext Attack security of the proposed scheme in this paper is formally proven in the random oracle model through the construction of a security game. Furthermore, security analysis shows the proposed scheme can ensure data confidentiality, SK security, forward secrecy, resistance to eavesdropping attacks, and quantum attack resistance under the RLWE problem. The proposed scheme reduces the computation and communication overheads for CPPS devices. Additionally, the proposed scheme offers more security functionalities than the existing schemes. Cite this article as: X. Li, Y. Zhu, X. Yuan, Z. Zhou and C. Jiang, “Secure authenticated post-quantum key agreement scheme based on ring learning with errors for cyber-physical power system,” Electrica, 2026, 26, 0182, doi: 10.5152/electrica.2026.25182.