Work

Implementation and transition to post-quantum cryptography of the Minimal IKE protocol

Year: 2026

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: This paper concerns the Minimal Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol, which has received little attention to date, despite its potential to make the best-known IKE protocol sufficiently lightweight to be also applied in contexts where it is currently prohibitive, due to its large footprint. First, we introduce and describe Colibri, an efficient, open-source implementation of the Minimal IKE protocol, which allows us to quantitatively assess its real advantages in terms of lightness. Then we introduce a post-quantum variant of the Minimal IKE protocol, which is essential to make it contemporary, and assess it through Colibri. We demonstrate that the protocol performance remains excellent even in such a more challenging context, making it suitable for deploying pervasive and quantum-resistant virtual private networks.

Source: International Conference on Communications

DOI: 10.1109/icc59461.2026.11587779

Authors: Davide De Zuane, Paolo Santini, Marco Baldi

Institutions: IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Marche Polytechnic University

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Authentication Protocols Security

Subfield: Computer Networks and Communications

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: green

Funder: European Commission