{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T11:21:08Z","timestamp":1780053668700,"version":"3.54.0"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,1]],"date-time":"2024-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1719792000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010010","name":"Glasgow Caledonian University","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010010","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.mdpi.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Computers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This research aims to establish a secure system for key exchange by using post-quantum cryptography (PQC) schemes in the classic channel of quantum key distribution (QKD). Modern cryptography faces significant threats from quantum computers, which can solve classical problems rapidly. PQC schemes address critical security challenges in QKD, particularly in authentication and encryption, to ensure the reliable communication across quantum and classical channels. The other objective of this study is to balance security and communication speed among various PQC algorithms in different security levels, specifically CRYSTALS-Kyber, CRYSTALS-Dilithium, and Falcon, which are finalists in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization project. The quantum channel of QKD is simulated with Qiskit, which is a comprehensive and well-supported tool in the field of quantum computing. By providing a detailed analysis of the performance of these three algorithms with Rivest\u2013Shamir\u2013Adleman (RSA), the results will guide companies and organizations in selecting an optimal combination for their QKD systems to achieve a reliable balance between efficiency and security. Our findings demonstrate that the implemented PQC schemes effectively address security challenges posed by quantum computers, while keeping the the performance similar to RSA.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/computers13070163","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,1]],"date-time":"2024-07-01T09:06:07Z","timestamp":1719824767000},"page":"163","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":36,"title":["Enhancing the Security of Classical Communication with Post-Quantum Authenticated-Encryption Schemes for the Quantum Key Distribution"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-9634-3301","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Farshad","family":"Ghashghaei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computing and Digital Technology, Birmingham City University, Birmingham B4 7XG, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yussuf","family":"Ahmed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computing and Digital Technology, Birmingham City University, Birmingham B4 7XG, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4267-8798","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nebrase","family":"Elmrabit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cyber Security and Networks, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK"},{"name":"College of Computing and Information Technology, Ministry of Technical and Vocational Education, Zawia 218, Libya"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0832-650X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mehdi","family":"Yousefi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Independent Researcher, 12 Riverview Place, Glasgow G5 8EH, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"2725","article-title":"Enhanced Shor\u2019s algorithm with quantum circuit optimization","volume":"16","author":"Iqbal","year":"2024","journal-title":"Int. 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