Post-Quantum Cryptography for Secure Communication: A Systematic Review of Algorithms, Performance Trade-offs, and Emerging Challenges

Abstract

The rapid growth of quantum computing poses a critical threat to classical cryptographic systems. That is due in large part to the fact that they represent efficient solutions for some of the most challenging mathematical problems such as integer factoring or finding discrete logarithms. Schemes currently in wide use including RSA, Diffie–Hellman, and elliptic curve cryptography are particularly susceptible to being attacked by quantum computers, using algorithms like Shor\'s Algorithm and Grover\'s Algorithm. The advent of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) provides a promising potential answer to providing long-term security from adversaries using quantum computing capabilities. This paper presents a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of various PQC techniques currently being researched, including lattice-based methods, code-based methods, multivariate methods, hash-based methods, and isogeny-based methods. key challenges that will need to be addressed include computational overhead, large key sizes and implementation complexity. Furthermore the study reviews the current standardization efforts by the National Institute of Standards and Technology related to PQC and discusses some of the very specific practical considerations that need to be considered before widely deploying these techniques. The paper concludes by a complete list of existing research challenges and proposed future work that will assist in the development of efficient and scalable systems that will resist attacks from quantum computers.

Introduction

Modern secure communications rely on classical cryptographic systems—symmetric, asymmetric, and hash-based algorithms—to provide confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. Widely used schemes like RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and ECC underpin applications from online banking to digital signatures. However, the emergence of quantum computers threatens these systems, as quantum algorithms such as Shor’s and Grover’s can efficiently break current public-key and symmetric cryptography, raising concerns about long-term data security and “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks.

To address this, Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) has been developed to secure communications against both classical and quantum attacks. PQC includes techniques such as lattice-based cryptography, code-based cryptography, hash-based signatures, multivariate polynomial cryptography, and isogeny-based cryptography. These methods rely on mathematical problems resistant to known quantum algorithms. While PQC provides long-term security, it introduces trade-offs in key size, computational efficiency, hardware complexity, and implementation.

The paper reviews the impact of quantum computing on classical cryptography, analyzes PQC methods and their performance, and discusses standardization efforts led by NIST. It highlights applications in secure communications, long-term data protection, cloud computing, IoT, and blockchain systems. The research also evaluates practical deployment challenges and provides guidance for future development of efficient, quantum-resistant cryptographic solutions.

Conclusion

Quantum computing will likely raise many viable threats to the Public Key Cryptographic systems being utilized today (digital communications, data storage, and authentication), and more importantly to utilize those technologies in an unauthorized fashion with quantum computing assisting in their capability. The Public Key Cryptosystems currently threatened by quantum attacks are RSA, Diffie–Hellman, and ECC. Shor\'s and Grover\'s algorithms pose a risk to these systems. Therefore, The need for a new post-quantum cryptographic solution is essential for long-term security in the Post-Quantum Era. In this paper a detailed examination of the interrelationships among cryptography, quantum computing and post-quantum cryptographic techniques is presented with a focus on their respective areas of application, their mathematical foundations and their impact on security. The work discussed the major families of post-quantum cryptographic methods such as lattice, code, hash, multivariate and isogeny-based methods. It also provided an in-depth analysis of NIST\'s post-quantum cryptography standards process. The analysis included the reasons, strengths, and performance of the leading candidate algorithms for post-quantum cryptography such as Crystals-Kyber, Crystals-Dilithium, Falcon and SPHINCS+. A direct comparison of the performance of the solutions illustrates that the networks are able to provide an ideal trade off between security and efficiency. This characteristic makes lattice-based systems attractive candidates for the potential mass-use in numerous applications, particularly in areas like secure communications protocols, cloud computing, and embedded devices. The biggest hindrances to the widespread adoption of mesh-based technologies are still incomplete solutions for ensuring implementation security, an ever-growing computational burden and a limited level of compatibility between multiple implementations of the same solution. To summarise, post-quantum cryptography has been a game changer in designing cryptographic systems and gives us an additional layer of defence against the very real threat of quantum technology-based attacks. As we turn our attention towards continuing to do well-researched post-quantum cryptographic research and evaluation of the efficacy of post-quantum cryptography, we will develop strong post-quantum cryptographic systems that secure computers and digital data against the changing technology landscape for years to come. Furthermore, by establishing and applying post-quantum cryptographic solutions today, we will continue to provide our digital infrastructure with defence against possible attacks over the next several decades.

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Copyright © 2026 Suvhodip Saha, Soumendu Banerjee. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.