Exploration of Quantum Cryptography Security Applications for Industrial Control Systems

The exploration of security applications of quantum cryptography for industrial control systems is a key research effort aimed at enhancing the security of industrial control systems through quantum cryptography. In this paper, we study the security threats faced by industrial control systems, including network attacks, data leakage, and system tampering, and propose to utilize quantum key distribution and quantum invisible state transfer algorithms to ensure the secure transmission of industrial control system data. The simulation test environment of the upper and lower computers of the industrial control system is built. The quantum encryption and decryption algorithms are deployed in the embedded environment and PCs to test the effectiveness of quantum cryptography to enhance the advanced encryption standard key scheme. The experimental results show that the quantum cryptography technology successfully realizes the encryption and decryption of data, and the total time consumed in the whole process is less than 61.8 seconds, which meets the requirements of a real-time industrial control system. Therefore, quantum cryptography is suitable for protecting field-level data in industrial control systems. © 2023 Hengyu Li, Yun Dong, Yusheng Zhang and Haiping Wang, published by Sciendo.