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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Inventory of Public Key Cryptography in US Electric Vehicle Charging

Electric vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure are networked systems, which employ high-level communications in support of charging and grid service decisions. Public key cryptography (PKC) underlies much of the security and privacy protections of the information exchange. We are entering a new epoch where quantum computing threats must be seriously considered. A sufficiently large quantum computer, so named Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computer (QRQC), will be able to perform the mathematical operations to efficiently attack the underpinnings of traditional PKC, thus jeopardizing the digital foundations for trust, communications security, and data security. Estimates suggest a QRQC can break public key encryption and digital signatures in the manner of tens to hundreds of hours, compared to traditional computing that would demand more than 10 18 years in a brute force-style attack. A consensus belief of quantum theorists, quantum experimenters, and cryptographers suggest that the quantum threat will be likely realized in the next twenty years. To address the threat, post-quantum cryptography, which is cryptosystems that are designed to be secure against both traditional and quantum computing threats, must be adopted. Migration from traditional PKC to quantum-resilient cryptography is a global undertaking and likely represents the largest transition in computing history. The nascent state of EV public key infrastructure, combined with limited adoption of the vehicle secure charging features, presents an opportunity to establish a preference for quantum-resistant cryptography as a step on the migration path. Delays will stunt the efforts as rapidly accelerating EVs sales and huge infrastructure investments will create large growing bases of long-lived vehicles and infrastructure. Migration preparations can commence while NIST continues the process to standardize post-quantum cryptography (PQC), which are quantum-resilient algorithms designed to be secure against traditional and quantum computing threats. The first step in preparing EV charging is to identify the presence of traditional public key cryptography algorithms and applications. With this objective in mind, this report is intended to advise the vehicle manufacturers, charging station manufacturers, charging station operators, charge network providers and other EV charging stakeholders with information on traditional PKC application and the potential risks when PKC becomes insecure. This report, the first in a series of reports discussing the topics existing at the confluence of post-quantum cryptography adoption and EV charging, identifies traditional public key applications employed and identifies potential consequences of leaving EV charging infrastructure vulnerable to quantum computing. The focus remains squarely on the of EV charging and infrastructure with respect to PKC and is believed by the authors to complement the NIST SP 1800-38 Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography. While the report is centered on infrastructure, there are implications to vehicles.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS1996

A Secure Key Distribution System of Quantum Cryptography Based on the Coherent State

The cryptographic communication has a lot of important applications, particularly in the magnificent prospects of private communication. As one knows, the security of cryptographic channel depends crucially on the secrecy of the key. The Vernam cipher is the only cipher system which has guaranteed security. In that system the key must be as long as the message and most be used only once. Quantum cryptography is a method whereby key secrecy can be guaranteed by a physical law. So it is impossible, even in principle, to eavesdrop on such channels. Quantum cryptography has been developed in recent years. Up to now, many schemes of quantum cryptography have been proposed. Now one of the main problems in this field is how to increase transmission distance. In order to use quantum nature of light, up to now proposed schemes all use very dim light pulses. The average photon number is about 0.1. Because of the loss of the optical fiber, it is difficult for the quantum cryptography based on one photon level or on dim light to realize quantum key-distribution over long distance. A quantum key distribution based on coherent state is introduced in this paper. Here we discuss the feasibility and security of this scheme.

Guo, Guang-Can↗
DOE OSTI2026

Extreme Temperature Cryptography Based On Nitrogen-Incorporated Ultrananocrystalline Diamond

Physical entropy sources that remain stable under extreme temperatures are essential for cryptography in emerging technological frontiers in deep space exploration, geothermal energy harvesting, and nuclear energy. However, conventional semiconductor platforms fail to generate stable and reliable cryptographic keys above 200 degrees C due to performance degradation. Here, we report a diamond-based cryptographic primitive that exploits the defect-rich sp 2 -bonded grain boundary network in nitrogen-incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond (n-UNCD) film as a robust entropy source to generate cryptographic keys that remain operationally stable even after enduring extreme temperatures of 700 degrees C for 54 h while also surviving thermal cycling between room temperature and 700 degrees C for 48 h. The strength of the generated keys is assessed through several cryptographic metrics such as bit uniformity, entropy, hamming distances, and correlation coefficients, all of which are found to be near their respective ideal values. Moreover, the generated keys pass the NIST SP 800 and SP 800-90B tests and are also resilient to supply bias variations and a regression-based machine learning attack model based on the Fourier series. The robustness of the keys is attributed to the better thermal stability and chemical inertness of the n-UNCD film. This is supported by high-resolution energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), which shows no significant lateral diffusion of metal atoms into the n-UNCD layer, and by Raman spectroscopy, which reveals no significant changes in the bonding configuration of the n-UNCD structure. Our findings highlight the remarkable potential of n-UNCD film for extreme environment cryptography by expanding the operational limits of conventional hardware security platforms.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Exploring the Adoption Challenges of Post-Quantum Cryptography in EV Charging Infrastructure

The rapid evolution of electric vehicle (EV) technology and the corresponding growth of the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI) brings to light significant cybersecurity concerns, notably in the context of emerging post-quantum computing capabilities. This report, prepared by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) under the U.S. Department of Energy contract, delves into the challenges associated with integrating Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) into EVCI to safeguard against potential quantum computing threats. Post-quantum computers will eventually be able to invalidate technologies secured through public key cryptography. As part of this effort, the primary gaps and challenges in the EVCI were investigated with a focus on comparing traditional algorithms against PQC algorithms. One of the notable findings was that the P-521 algorithm was frequently surpassed in performance by PQC algorithms. This document provides a thorough examination of the hurdles the industry can expect when transitioning to PQC within the EVCI, such as interoperability concerns, the computational and memory demands of PQC algorithms, and the organizational readiness for such a transition. It emphasizes the necessity of a forward-thinking approach to cybersecurity, advocating for early and strategic engagement among EVCI stakeholders to ensure a seamless and cost-effective migration to quantum-resistant cryptographic standards. Through this report, the authors aim to catalyze awareness and action among policymakers, industry leaders, and cybersecurity professionals towards fortifying the EVCI against emerging quantum threats, thereby securing the infrastructure essential for the future of electric mobility.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Software-Only Key Management and Cryptography (KMC) for Spacecraft Command Encryption

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System (AMMOS) in partnership with NASA’s Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation (NASA IV&V) Jon McBride Software Testing and Research (JSTAR) laboratory have jointly developed a command encryption capability that provides a software-only encryption solution utilizing the CCSDS Space Data Link Security Protocol. This solution, named Key Management and Cryptography (KMC), incorporates JPL’s encryption service with the JSTAR open-source CryptoLib library, providing a solution for spacecraft command encryption, which is required per NASA standard NASA-STD-1006-A. This paper will focus on its design, usage, and operation for two SmallSat missions, along with its future expanded functionality of end-to-end spacecraft encryption.

command encryption↗
NASA NTRS2005

An Interoperability Consideration in Selecting Domain Parameters for Elliptic Curve Cryptography

Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) will be an important technology for electronic privacy and authentication in the near future. There are many published specifications for elliptic curve cryptosystems, most of which contain detailed descriptions of the process for the selection of domain parameters. Selecting strong domain parameters ensures that the cryptosystem is robust to attacks. Due to a limitation in several published algorithms for doubling points on elliptic curves, some ECC implementations may produce incorrect, inconsistent, and incompatible results if domain parameters are not carefully chosen under a criterion that we describe. Few documents specify the addition or doubling of points in such a manner as to avoid this problematic situation. The safety criterion we present is not listed in any ECC specification we are aware of, although several other guidelines for domain selection are discussed in the literature. We provide a simple example of how a set of domain parameters not meeting this criterion can produce catastrophic results, and outline a simple means of testing curve parameters for interoperable safety over doubling.

Ivancic, Will↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The State of Cryptolib – The Open-Source Satellite Cryptography Library

What state would the world be in if all internet traffic was unencrypted? Imagine an alternate universe where you can plug a packet sniffing device into your home internet and capture the web traffic of the entire world. It seems obvious that this scenario is less than desirable. If we would not allow this for the internet, why would we allow this in the space domain? With the advent of open-source ground stations, commercial off the shelf hardware, and ground stations as a service, the barrier to entry for space communications is rapidly lowering. New players enter the space realm everydayevery day, and the presence of tools to allow apprentice evildoers the ability to exploit satellite communications is on the horizon. Not only are legacy missions at risk, but future missions are as well - particularly lower budget science missions with more stringent sciencesize, weight, and power constraints. that may find it difficult to utilize hardware-based encryption solutions. In terms of Civilian Aerospace, NASA Standard 1006 generally directs that missions "shall protect the command stack with encryption that meets or exceeds Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140". Fortunately, the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) has published an international standard on Space Data Link Security. The combination of these two forces has resulted in CryptoLib - an open-source, C-based, encryption library that aims to be CCSDS SDLS compliant. CryptoLib is designed to support smaller missions on a tight budget that may be subject to the more stringent command link encryption requirements. Additionally, CryptoLib serves as an underpinning in JPL's Key Management & Cryptography (KMC) suite and is also designed to function as a 'drop-in' for smaller missions. CryptoLib is in active development and currently provides Telecommand (TC), Telemetry (TM), and Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) encryption and decryption capabilities with a variety of encryption and authentication schemes. This presentation will report the latest features, current status, and future plans for CryptoLib.

open-source encryption↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The State of CryptoLib – The Open-Source Satellite Cryptography Library

What state would the world be in if all internet traffic was unencrypted? Imagine an alternate universe where you can plug a packet sniffing device into your home internet and capture the web traffic of the entire world. It seems obvious that this scenario is less than desirable. If we would not allow this for the internet, why would we allow this in the space domain? With the advent of open-source ground stations, commercial off the shelf hardware, and ground stations as a service, the barrier to entry for space communications is rapidly lowering. New players enter the space realm everydayevery day, and the presence of tools to allow apprentice evildoers the ability to exploit satellite communications is on the horizon. Not only are legacy missions at risk, but future missions are as well - particularly lower budget science missions with more stringent sciencesize, weight, and power constraints. that may find it difficult to utilize hardware-based encryption solutions. In terms of Civilian Aerospace, NASA Standard 1006 generally directs that missions "shall protect the command stack with encryption that meets or exceeds Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140". Fortunately, the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) has published an international standard on Space Data Link Security. The combination of these two forces has resulted in CryptoLib - an open-source, C-based, encryption library that aims to be CCSDS SDLS compliant. CryptoLib is designed to support smaller missions on a tight budget that may be subject to the more stringent command link encryption requirements. Additionally, CryptoLib serves as an underpinning in JPL's Key Management & Cryptography (KMC) suite and is also designed to function as a 'drop-in' for smaller missions. CryptoLib is in active development and currently provides Telecommand (TC), Telemetry (TM), and Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) encryption and decryption capabilities with a variety of encryption and authentication schemes. This presentation will report the latest features, current status, and future plans for CryptoLib.

open-source encryption↗
DOE OSTI2023

Streaming authentication and multi-level security for communications networks using quantum cryptography

Message authenticators for quantum-secured communications facilitate low-latency authentication with assurances of security. Low-latency message authenticators are especially valuable in infrastructure systems where security and latency constraints are difficult to satisfy with conventional non-quantum cryptography. For example, a message transmitter receives a message and derives an authentication tag for the message based at least in part on an authenticator that uses one or more quantum keys. The message transmitter outputs the message and its authentication tag. A message receiver receives a message and authentication tag for the message. The message receiver derives a comparison tag for the message based at least in part on an authenticator that uses one or more quantum keys. The message receiver checks whether the message is authentic based on a comparison of the authentication tag and the comparison tag. In example implementations, the authenticator uses stream-wise cyclic redundancy code operations.

Hughes, Richard J.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Modular Security Apparatus for Managing Distributed Cryptography for Command-and-Control Messages on Operational Technology Networks (Module-OT)

Module-OT is a bump- in- the- wire solution acting as a secure conduit for data between devices or systems across a network. Using the latest in open-source cryptographic libraries, all defined communications undergo authentication, authorization, and encryption. The core system can be easily installed through industry standard processes, and the use of popular open-source packages allows for it to be customizable customized by the developer community or deployed in unique embedded environments.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Scalable Quantum Cryptography Network for Protected Automation Communication (Final Report)

This is the final report for a CEDS-funded project aimed at developing a new quantum technology for securing utility communication networks used to control and monitor electrical grid equipment. Securing these control networks represents a unique challenge as the performance of the security solution has a direct impact on the stability and reliability of the electrical grid. Traditional, software-based solutions - developed for information networks - are not suitable for utility control networks because they introduce latency, require burdensome maintenance and upgrades, are often incompatible with legacy equipment, and introduce operational complexity that reduces grid reliability. Consequently, many U.S. utilities do not use existing solutions and, instead, protect their critical control networks through the careful isolation and obscuration of their networked equipment. With more utilities embracing grid automation, the attack surface that utilities must defend from hackers has grown to an unmanageable size. To address this situation, Qubitekk and its partners proposed and developed a hardware-based solution that can secure critical control networks without negatively impacting grid performance. This new solution is based on quantum key distribution (QKD) techniques that guarantee secure key generation and distribution across a utility control network. Through deployment and field testing of a prototype QKD system, we have shown that this solution delivers long-term network security, is technically feasible to implement and maintain on a utility’s distribution substation network and does not negatively impact grid operations. In addition, the project has identified and solved key challenges associated with generating, transmitting, and measuring coherent photonic quantum states on a real-world fiber optic network. These additional findings are playing a critical role in advancing quantum networks for quantum computing applications. An overview of the QKD prototype development effort, field testing activities and results, and additional findings relevant to emerging quantum networks are presented in this report.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1995

Cryptography Would Reveal Alterations In Photographs

Public-key decryption method proposed to guarantee authenticity of photographic images represented in form of digital files. In method, digital camera generates original data from image in standard public format; also produces coded signature to verify standard-format image data. Scheme also helps protect against other forms of lying, such as attaching false captions.

Friedman, Gary L.↗
NASA NTRS1996

High-Rate Strong-Signal Quantum Cryptography

Several quantum cryptosystems utilizing different kinds of nonclassical lights, which can accommodate high intensity fields and high data rate, are described. However, they are all sensitive to loss and both the high rate and the strong-signal character rapidly disappear. A squeezed light homodyne detection scheme is proposed which, with present-day technology, leads to more than two orders of magnitude data rate improvement over other current experimental systems for moderate loss.

Yuen, Horace P.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Practical Computer Security through Cryptography

The core protocols upon which the Internet was built are insecure. Weak authentication and the lack of low level encryption services introduce vulnerabilities that propagate upwards in the network stack. Using statistics based on CERT/CC Internet security incident reports, the relative likelihood of attacks via these vulnerabilities is analyzed. The primary conclusion is that the standard UNIX BSD-based authentication system is by far the most commonly exploited weakness. Encryption of Sensitive password data and the adoption of cryptographically-based authentication protocols can greatly reduce these vulnerabilities. Basic cryptographic terminology and techniques are presented, with attention focused on the ways in which technology such as encryption and digital signatures can be used to protect against the most commonly exploited vulnerabilities. A survey of contemporary security software demonstrates that tools based on cryptographic techniques, such as Kerberos, ssh, and PGP, are readily available and effectively close many of the most serious security holes. Nine practical recommendations for improving security are described.

McNab, David↗