Performance Tests Evaluate Viability of CRYSTALS-Kyber Post-Quantum Cryptography

The looming threat of quantum computers capable of breaking current encryption standards drives urgent research into new cryptographic methods, and Nicolas Rodriguez Alvarez from IES Parquesol and Fernando Rodriguez Merino from the University of Valladolid, along with their colleagues, have investigated the practical performance of one leading solution, CRYSTALS-Kyber. As advances in quantum error correction push the possibility of large-scale quantum computers closer to reality, the cryptographic community must proactively transition to algorithms resistant to these attacks. This study assesses Kyber’s viability as a replacement for widely used RSA and ECC encryption, focusing on its performance using standard processor features commonly found in everyday computers. The results demonstrate that Kyber offers strong security without requiring specialised hardware, suggesting it is a feasible option for widespread adoption and mitigating the risks of prolonged vulnerability during the transition to post-quantum cryptography.

Kyber Outperforms ECC and RSA Encryption

This research presents a performance comparison of three cryptographic algorithms, SECP384R1 (Elliptic Curve), Kyber, and RSA, assessing their suitability for securing future communications against the threat of quantum computers. The study demonstrates that Kyber offers significant performance advantages over both SECP384R1 and RSA, particularly in key generation and establishing secure connections, while maintaining acceptable storage requirements. These findings suggest Kyber is a strong candidate for protecting communications in a future where quantum computers could compromise current encryption standards. Kyber consistently outperforms both SECP384R1 and RSA across all tested operations.

In key generation, Kyber is 2. 7 to 3 times faster than ECC and a remarkable 3400 to 20500 times faster than RSA. For establishing shared secrets, Kyber is 41 to 72 times faster than ECC and 1600 to 3200 times faster than RSA. This consistent performance advantage holds true across both x86-64 and ARM64 computer architectures, with ARM64 partially reducing the overhead of traditional schemes but not changing the fundamental performance rankings. Kyber does require slightly more storage space for its data, representing a trade-off for its performance gains.

Kyber Performance on Standard Computer Architectures

Researchers evaluated Kyber’s practical viability as a potential replacement for current encryption standards vulnerable to quantum computing attacks. Rather than relying on specialized hardware, the study deliberately used only standard processor acceleration features found in commercially available computers, ensuring the results reflect real-world deployment scenarios and avoid the costs of bespoke hardware. This approach provides a realistic benchmark for organizations considering adopting post-quantum cryptography. The core of the methodology involved comprehensive performance testing of Kyber across both x86_64 and ARM64 architectures and various implementation scenarios.

To establish meaningful comparisons, Kyber’s performance was directly contrasted with that of established cryptographic algorithms, RSA-7680 and SECP384R1, offering equivalent security levels. This comparative analysis clarifies the trade-offs between Kyber and existing standards in terms of speed and efficiency. A key innovative aspect of the study lies in its focus on leveraging existing hardware acceleration capabilities. Researchers utilized features such as Intel’s AES-NI and AVX2 instruction sets, alongside ARM’s AES and ASIMD extensions, to optimize Kyber’s performance. These features, designed to accelerate cryptographic operations, were employed without any modifications or custom implementations, demonstrating that Kyber can benefit from readily available hardware without requiring specialized development. This emphasis on commodity hardware is crucial for facilitating widespread adoption.

Kyber Demonstrates Practical Post-Quantum Cryptographic Security

The increasing power of computers necessitates a continuous evolution of cryptographic methods, particularly with the looming threat of quantum computers capable of breaking widely used encryption standards. Researchers have been actively developing post-quantum cryptography, designed to withstand attacks from both classical and future quantum computers, and recent performance evaluations of a leading candidate, CRYSTALS-Kyber, demonstrate promising results. This study rigorously tested Kyber’s practical viability across common computing architectures, revealing significant advantages over existing methods. Kyber’s security relies on the mathematical difficulty of solving problems based on lattices, a fundamentally different approach than traditional cryptography like RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC).

While RSA relies on the computationally intensive task of factoring large numbers, and ECC on solving elliptic curve discrete logarithm problems, Kyber leverages the presumed hardness of lattice-based problems, offering a robust defense against both current and anticipated quantum attacks. The testing involved detailed performance benchmarks on both x86_64 (commonly found in servers and desktops) and ARM64 (prevalent in mobile devices and embedded systems) architectures, utilizing standard processor acceleration features like AES-NI and ASIMD without specialized hardware. The results demonstrate Kyber’s exceptional efficiency, particularly in key generation. Across both architectures, Kyber required significantly fewer CPU cycles to generate a key pair compared to both RSA and ECC.

Specifically, Kyber was approximately 2. 7 to 3 times faster than ECC and a staggering 20,500 times faster than RSA on x86_64 systems. Even on the more constrained ARM64 architecture, Kyber remained over 3,400 times faster than RSA. This dramatic improvement stems from the inherent mathematical properties of lattice-based cryptography, which allows for much more efficient key creation processes. The performance benefits extend to the derivation of shared secrets, essential for secure communication.

Kyber consistently outperformed both RSA and ECC in this critical operation, requiring fewer CPU cycles to establish a secure connection. This efficiency is crucial for applications ranging from secure web browsing to encrypted messaging, ensuring minimal performance overhead for users. These findings suggest that CRYSTALS-Kyber represents a viable and efficient solution for securing digital communications in the post-quantum era. Its superior performance, coupled with its robust security guarantees, positions it as a leading candidate for the next generation of cryptographic standards, offering a pathway to maintain secure communications in an increasingly complex and computationally powerful world.

Kyber Outperforms RSA and ECC Significantly

Benchmarking results demonstrate that CRYSTALS-Kyber, a leading post-quantum cryptographic solution, offers decisive computational advantages over traditional schemes like RSA and ECC across both x86_64 and ARM64 computer architectures. Kyber leverages modern CPU features, particularly vectorization instructions, to accelerate core computations, achieving key generation speeds 2. 7 to 3 times faster than ECC and an impressive 3,400 to 20,500 times faster than RSA. Similar speed advantages, ranging from 41 to 72 times faster than ECC and 1,600 to 3,200 times faster than RSA, extend to shared secret derivation, effectively resolving a critical performance bottleneck in receiver-side operations. These gains are consistently observed across different processor types, with ARM64 partially mitigating the overheads of classical cryptography without altering the overall performance hierarchy. While Kyber requires slightly more storage space for its data compared to RSA and ECC, this trade-off is justified by the substantial performance improvements.