Salman Shamshad (University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom), Waqas Bin Abbas (University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom), Sana Belguith (University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom), Lucy Berthoud (University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom)
The inherent broadcast characteristics of satellite communication systems make them vulnerable to interception and manipulation threats. Stringent Authentication and Key-Establishment (AKE) mechanisms play a vital role in securing satellite communication links by verifying legitimate participants and establishing a secret session for protected communication. Nevertheless, the existing AKE mechanisms based on classical cryptographic methods are not sufficient to guarantee the security of these systems in the forthcoming post-quantum era. Recognizing these flaws, we propose a quantum-secure robust AKE mechanism that fortifies these communications systems against emerging cyber and quantum threats. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to integrate NIST-approved quantum-safe cryptography primitives, coupled with a hardware fingerprinting-based key generation mechanism.