Quantum-Resilient Cryptographic Protocols for the Next-Generation Financial Cybersecurity Landscape

Abstract

The rapid evolution of quantum computing presents a new age of paradigm shift in cybersecurity and particularly to financial institutions, which heavily rely on the use of encryption to keep their sensitive data confidential. The traditional cryptographic designs, such as RSA and ECC, are becoming more vulnerable to quantum attacks, which also include a requirement to design quantum-resistant cryptographic designs. This paper discusses quantum resistant cryptography systems to be implemented into the future of the financial cybersecurity setting, potential applications of cryptosecurity to finances, data protection systems, digital transactions security, and encryption and authentication systems. We suggest a hybrid cryptography system which is a combination of lattice-based encryption, hash-based signatures, post-quantum key exchange systems to enable it to be more resilient to quantum attacks. It also has risk-aware authentication and multi-layered encryption solutions which are integrated into the framework based on the requirement of financial institutions in its operation. To test the framework, we modeled the digital transaction case through the application of representative financial data and quantified the key performance indicators to include encryption/decryption time, the transaction time, and the resistance to attacks. The results confirm the fact that the security measures have considerably increased and the quantum-resilient protocols possess the same stage of computing power as a classical system and decrease risks stemming out of quantum-enabled adversary. The quantitative findings have shown that the likelihood of possible breaches is now minimized by 78 percent, confidentiality of transactions is enhanced, and dependability of authentication with different threat models. The work provides a feasibility guide on the application of quantum resistant protocols in financial systems that could be utilized to provide scalability with regard to securing of digital transactions and risk management. The findings emphasize the need to deploy quantum-resilient cryptography by financial institutions, which would experience sustainable cybersecurity in the new age of quantum computing.