A Novel Hybrid Quantum-Resilient Cipher with Adaptive Resource Scheduling for Secure IoT Environments

Abstract

The rapid proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in smart cities, autonomous systems, and industrial automation has led to an unprecedented rise in data exchange and interconnectivity. However, this exponential growth also exposes IoT environments to evolving cyber threats, including those posed by quantum computing, which can easily compromise traditional cryptographic systems. Existing encryption models fail to ensure both post-quantum security and optimal resource utilization across constrained IoT nodes. To overcome these challenges, this paper proposes a Novel Hybrid Quantum-Resilient Cipher with Adaptive Resource Scheduling (HQRC-ARS) designed to safeguard data transmission and improve energy efficiency in resource-constrained IoT networks. The proposed framework synergistically combines Lattice-based NTRUEncrypt with Supersingular Isogeny Key Exchange (SIKE) to provide dual-layer post-quantum security. Furthermore, a Dynamic Adaptive Resource Scheduler (DARS) powered by reinforcement learning optimizes computational and communication loads across heterogeneous IoT nodes, ensuring minimal latency and balanced energy consumption. The model also employs advanced access control policies and context-aware key distribution to mitigate data breaches and unauthorized access attempts. Experimental validation using benchmark IoT datasets demonstrates the superiority of HQRC-ARS over conventional quantum-safe schemes. The hybrid cipher achieves encryption and decryption times of 1.52 seconds and 1.39 seconds per GB, respectively, while maintaining a key generation time of 2.63 seconds per GB. Additionally, the adaptive scheduling algorithm reduces overall energy consumption by 27.4% and improves throughput by 19.8% under dynamic network conditions. These results affirm that the proposed HQRC-ARS model ensures quantum resilience, low computational overhead, and adaptive efficiency, establishing a secure and scalable foundation for next-generation IoT environments.