Key Encapsulation Mechanisms (KEM) is a special case of Public Key Encryption (PKE) that was recently standardized by National Institute of Standards and Technology in USA. The broader adoption of the term in industry practice was necessitated by the discovery of the malleability property of ciphertext, which led to new approaches PKE. New standard initiated refactoring of all cryptographic software libraries and this process relates to the problems of cryptographic agility. This Systematization of Knowledge (SoK) addresses the developments of public key encryption methods and the main challenges that drive the specialization of KEM in cryptographic software. Based upon our findings from a systematic literature review, we present a formal analysis that provides cryptographic users a means of better understanding of KEM and its roles in cryptographic migrations in IoT systems. We have identified the main milestones of KEM evolution and structured it into four development areas. We found that the evolution of KEM is defined by a variety of mathematical foundations that always reflect various aspects of the cryptosystem. Our findings indicate that academia, industry practitioners and standardization bodies propagate such approaches into practice by additional abstraction layers in cryptographic software libraries. However, the libraries is still not in consensus, which is confirmed after the discovery of a new class of libraries, cryptographic bindings. To structure the mentioned phenomena, we introduced a novel, three-facet, consumer-centered mapping of the data security domain.We believe our contribution can help researchers and practitioners to have a broader and deeper understanding of data encryption tooling in context of cryptographic migrations.

The study outlined in this paper assesses the implementation of Attribute-Based Encryption as a key encapsulation mechanism,culminating in a proposed end-to-end encryption solution for a cloud-based IoT management system and further simulation ofmigration to Kyber Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) key encapsulation mechanism. Though extensively used for efficientlygathering and sharing video surveillance data, these systems also collect telemetry information, which includes sensitive data. Thispaper presents a comprehensive study that examines the current understanding, methodologies, and challenges associated withsupporting the End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) approach to ensure the confidentiality of telemetry data.

The increasing data-security regulation and cyber-threats requires IT vendors to use new cryptographic tools or refactor live systems to encrypt existing data. One step in that direction is integrating an appropriate security protocol and cryptographic software library during the system design phase. However, it is not sufficient when it happens to migrate existing data to encrypted form in the live system on-the-fly, re-encrypt data to a different encryption standard, or have the data of the same origin but encrypted with different standards. This thesis explores the new emergent area of cryptographic agility, which focuses on various challenges while adopting cryptographic migrations in live systems. We proposed End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) design for telemetry data security in two different applications: maritime surveillance and drone-management. We aimed to understand the role of Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) cryptographic primitive in the data-security domain. The notion of crypto-agility constitutes a context-sensitive, activity-based perspective on data security. In this thesis, we aim at both understanding and exploring practical possibilities of this notion. We employ a mixed-methods approach to achieve our aim: Experimentation, Literature Review and Survey. We have studied and applied quantum-safe KEM cryptographic primitives to simulate practical cryptographic migration in live IoT systems. We have shown the importance of KEM security properties and the performance of KEM primitives for telemetry data confidentiality. We proposed new crypto-agility values and trade offs as decision making support tool for consumers of cryptographic technologies. Furthermore, we have employed systematization of knowledge to structure how different types of contributions developed various KEM notions, its influence on the standardization process, and presence in cryptographic software libraries over the last 40 years. The proposed approaches have been shown to be capable of explaining the role of KEM in cryptographic migrations and underlying properties of crypto agility. This can facilitate domain experts in narrowing down the scope of analysis while achieving sufficiency for cryptographic migrations in live IoT systems based on end-to-end encryption protocols.

The research presented in the paper evaluates practices of Attribute-Based Encryption as a key encapsulation mechanism and proposes end-to-end encryption architecture for a cloudbased ship tracking system confidentiality. Though extensively used for efficiently gathering and sharing maritime data, these systems draw information from Automated Identification Systems, ports, and vessels, which can lead to cyber-security vulnerabilities. This paper presents a study addressing the current state of knowledge, methodologies, and challenges associated with supporting cryptographic agility for End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) for AIS data. To study cryptographic agility performance, a new metric has been introduced for cryptographic library analysis that improves the methodology by comparing Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) with state of the art CRYSTALS-Kyber key encapsulation mechanism (KEM) that belongs to Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). A comprehensive series of experiments are undertaken to simulate large-scale cryptographic migration within the proposed system, showcasing the practical applicability of the proposed approach in measuring cryptographic agility performance.

The research presented focuses on cryptographic-agility for End-to-End Encryption systems (E2EE) that could be implemented for telemetry data encryption. The recent report 1 by Microsoft after a security incident, describes the consequences that lead to encryption key leakage from telemetry data of highly protected production system. Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile devices constantly produce telemetry data which contains sensitive information. The data partially belongs to vendor, but IoT consumer’s consent is needed to access such data for troubleshooting or forensic analysis. Goyal et al [2] proposed Attribute Based Encryption (ABE) as a solution for legitimately access the audit log contents by engineering team. © 2024 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

The research presented in the paper evaluates practices of Attribute-Based Encryption, leading to a proposed end-to-end encryption strategy for a cloud-based drone management system. Though extensively used for efficiently gathering and sharing video surveilance data, these systems also collect telemetry information with sensitive data. This paper presents a study addressing the current state of knowledge, methodologies, and challenges associated with supporting cryptographic agility for End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) for telemetry data confidentiality. To enhance cryptographic agility performance, a new metric has been introduced for cryptographic library analysis that improves the methodology by considering Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) with a conventional key-encapsulation mechanism in OpenSSL. A comprehensive series of experiments are undertaken to simulate cryptographic agility within the proposed system, showcasing the practical applicability of the proposed approach in measuring cryptographic agility performance. 

This position paper presents the preliminary results from a research study focusing on cryptographic agility for consumers of open-source cryptographic libraries. We provide a concise overview of frontiers and recent advancements in cryptographic agility research frontier, examining the utilized approaches and emphasizing the perception of application layer encryption in end-to-end encryption systems. The paper delves into the state of practice of cryptographic libraries and programming interfaces, outlining recognized challenges and knowledge gaps that warrant exploration through new scientific research. Furthermore, we outline the values of cryptographic agility in a manifesto and propose a survey structure to validate our assumptions. 

The paper investigates the impact of network traffic and network characteristics on the effectiveness of keystroke dynamics for continuous and one-time authentication in the remote desktop applications and virtual desktop infrastructure. The context presented in the paper contributes to the area of biometric authentication systems by identifying virtual desktop environment as a specific application domain that uses a keystroke pattern for user verification and identifying at what extent the context influences on permanence and the immunity of the keystroke data which was never studied before. The results showed that the keystroke pattern is not affected by network latency, but standard deviation, jitter, and packet loss have a significant combined impact onto it. It can also be concluded that RDP packets are not prioritized during transmission over the network, and therefore, we can say that any other competing traffic is likely to render keystroke dynamics unusable for continuous authentication during remote access. © 2021 Copyright for this paper by its authors.

The workloads at seaport container terminals are increasing; thus, to enhance performance, the focus on improving container stacking is argued to be an integral factor that should be studied. The main problem is the number of unproductive moves of handling containers. A well-planned stacking area is argued to be a key requirement in order to increase the performance of the terminal operations and assist in maximum utilization of existing resources. In this work, we investigated and then propose the best possible solution by evaluating GAs in order to minimize the unproductive moves often witnessed in terminal operations. A discrete-event simulation CSS model has been developed to study the inbound container stacking that considers in the model the following: the working of the yard crane, Automated Guided Vehicles, delivery trucks and obtain the simulation-based results of GA. We propose a mathematical model to minimize the container handling costs during stacking and retrieval operations in the container terminal yard. © 2021 The Authors.

Nowadays, ports are actively seeking ways to improve their safety and operational activity. An essential driver in this context is digitalisation. Since seaports are also key actors for the sustainable development of coastal regions, it is important that they transform into smart port ecosystems. Hence, the automation and digitisation of ports’ operations are important not only for the ports themselves, but also for the regions and countries hosting regional port ecosystems. Studies on the digitalisation level of ports bear the potential to detect optimal ways for increasing safety, security and visibility in terms of the digital transformation, as well as attracting passengers and freight flows, which in turn positively affects not only the ports, but particularly also the sustainable development of coastal regions. Therefore, the paper presents the results of a conducted assessment of small and medium-sized ports’ digitisation level as well as introduces ways and recommendations how to improve the level of digitisation on the path towards becoming a smarter port ecosystem. The research builds upon key insights from the Connect2SmallPorts project, part-financed by INTERREG South Baltic Programme 2014–2020. Thereby, the research utilises collected primary data concerning ports located in the Baltic, North and Mediterranean Sea Regions. Thus, the study bases on well-grounded theoretical and practical findings in the maritime science field in the nexus of digital transformation. © 2021 Kaunas University of Technology. All rights reserved.