A Generic IoT Quantum-Safe Watchdog Timer Protocol

This paper presents a quantum-safe watchdog timer protocol designed and implemented using various quantum-safe digital signature algorithms. The protocol is specifically tailored to be used in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT) to address the security risks posed by quantum computing to classical protocols. Our approach replaces the classical protocol with a quantum-safe watchdog timer protocol, which ensures that an IoT device’s communication channels remain secure from adversarial attacks. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed protocol, we develop a proof-of-concept (PoC) implementation using an actor framework in Python. We evaluate the performance impact of the proposed protocol based on several IoT scenarios. We also compare the performance of different quantum-safe algorithms using measurements of CPU cycles, and quantitatively evaluate the results using statistical methods. Our results indicate that the performance of the tested quantum-safe algorithms is better or similar to that of the tested classical algorithms. Based on these results, we recommend a specific quantum-safe algorithm for use with the watchdog timer protocol in the IoT context. The proposed protocol and recommended quantum-safe algorithm offer an effective way to address the security risks posed by quantum computing to IoT devices, and are a significant contribution to the field of quantum-safe cryptography.