Hardware Supported Crypto-Agility in Quantum Key Distribution and Physical Layer Security
Máté Galambos, M. A. Vázquez‐Castro, László Bacsárdi · 2025
Quantum key distribution networks offer secure communication by leveraging quantum physical principles. However, their current solutions and standards are rigid, and do not incorporate the principle of cryptographic agility. In this paper we present a functional framework of agility that is applicable to hardware specific functions as well as software and we extend its applicability beyond cryptography. We explore how this framework can be applied to different layers of abstractions in a generalized quantum key distribution network. Using this framework, we construct examples of how hardware can be modified to make various components in a quantum key distribution network agile and identify general strategies to achieve agility. We explore how other physical layer security protocols beyond traditional quantum key distribution can be integrated into an agile generalized quantum key distribution network.