SEASONs: A Hybrid Quantum-Secure Cryptographic Protocol for the Internet of Things

In recent years, research in hybrid cryptography has provided significant advancements for the world of applications in cybersecurity, however, implementing suitable hybrid cryptographic schemes for IoT environments is still an open research issue. To address the need for a hybrid Key Encapsulation Mechanisms (KEM) for constrained IoT environments, this paper introduces five variants of SEASON KEM, based on the Quantum Superiority Fighter construction. The empirical benchmark demonstrates a significant improvement over state-of-the-art Hybrid KEM, achieving a 20% speed improvement in KeyGeneration and Decapsulation, a 14% improvement in Encapsulation, and additional improvements in memory overhead. The results prove the efficacy of lightweight post-quantum cryptography, and underscore the importance of research in resource-constrained post-quantum security.