Cybersecurity-Enabled Secure Manufacturing Framework Using Quantum-Safe Cryptographic Protocols for Industrial Control Systems and Smart Factories

Abstract

The rapid progress of quantum computing is about to destabilise the foundation of classical cryptography. This is an unprecedented threat to industrial control systems (ICS) that settle for outdated communication protocols. Systems also have stolid performance. This paper describes the first comprehensive multi-layered quantum-safe security system designed to protect the entirety of industrial and cyber-physical systems from classical and quantum threats. The system designed marries hybrid cryptographic primitives: NIST-approved post-quantum algorithms Kyber and Dilithium with classical X25519 and Ed25519 for maintaining confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. A session layer is stateful and implements authenticated encryption, forward secrecy, and anti-replay. An application layer has context-aware modules for anomaly detection and role-based access control. It also includes secure firmware validation. Experimental testing in accordance with a SCADA-PLC environment simulation proves that cryptographic latency of the system is below a millisecond and, therefore, it does not breach stringent industrial control loop targets. This also demonstrates industrial latency. Benchmarking proves that hybrid systems are computationally trivial relative to classical systems, thus, the suggested defence-in-depth design bridges the significant gap between practical post-quantum security and industrial application. This provides quantum peer-to-peer communication, concurrent trust in process integrity, trusted firmware, and process control to smart manufacturing systems.