This internship focuses on the comparative analysis and experimental evaluation of cryptographic algorithms designed for resource-constrained environments, with particular emphasis on the transition toward post-quantum cryptography (PQC).

The intern will study and implement a set of cryptographic primitives suitable for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including lightweight symmetric algorithms, such as ASCON and standardized post-quantum algorithms. The work will involve implementing selected algorithms on representative IoT platforms and evaluating their performance under realistic conditions.

The experimental evaluation will consider several key metrics, including:

• Key and ciphertext sizes
• Memory footprint
• Computational complexity
• Execution time
• Energy consumption

The objective of this internship is to identify the most appropriate cryptographic configurations for constrained environments by analyzing the trade-offs between security level, performance efficiency, and resource consumption. The results will provide important insights for the design of lightweight post-quantum security mechanisms suitable for IoT networks.

Required Profil:

Master’s student or engineering student in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Embedded Systems, or Telecommunications, with knowledge of cryptography and IoT security, programming skills in C/C++ or Python.

References

-Markus Grassl, Brandon Langenberg, Martin Roetteler, and Rainer Steinwandt. Applying grover’s algorithm to aes: quantum resource estimates. In International Workshop on Post-Quantum Cryptography, pages 29–43. Springer, 2016.

-Peter Shor. Polynomial-time algorithms for prime factorization and discrete logarithms on a quantum computer. SIAM Journal on Computing, 26(5):1484–1509, 1997.

-Salahaldeen Duraibi and Abdullah Mujawib Alashjaee. Lightweight post-quantum secure communication protocol for iot devices using code-based cryptography. IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, 2025.

-National Institute of Standards and Technology. Module-lattice-based key-encapsulation mechanism standard (fips 203). NIST Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 203, 2024. https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/fips/203/final.

-NationalInstituteofStandardsandTechnology. Modulelattice-baseddigitalsignaturestandard (fips 204). NIST Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 204, 2024. https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/fips/204/final.

-Eric Blancaflor, Mark Francis James Bona, David Josiah Dychioco, Matthew Jake Inson, and Prince Rayly Reyes. Security implications of quantum-resistant encryption in emerging iot networks. InInternational Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and Engineering Applications,pages 47–60. Springer, 2025.