Post-quantum Cryptography: A Solution to the Challenges of Classical Encryption Algorithms

With the rise in quantum computing, there is an increase in the security concerns of existing cryptographic algorithms such as Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA) and advanced encryption standard (AES) along with elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). The problem with RSA and ECC is that they depend on the challenges of integer factorization and discrete logarithms, respectively, whereas AES can be the target of brute force attack. In the recent years, there is a huge advancement in quantum computing due to which the existing encryption standards found vulnerable as they are weak to handle quantum attacks. Hence, to solve the problems with quantum computing, a new set of algorithms came into existence called as post-quantum cryptography (PQC) which is safe and secure from quantum attacks. In this review, firstly, the quantum computers and number of classical algorithms are introduced, afterward the classification of PQC algorithms has been shown. The aim of this review is to present the technical overview about PQC algorithms and their working procedures to protect classical cryptographic-based encrypted information from quantum attacks during online transactions and communications.