Methods and apparatus for quantum-resistant network communication

An apparatus, comprising:

• a communication interface;
• and
• a processor configured to be operably coupled to the communication interface, the processor configured to:
• concurrently authenticate a compute device and generate a traffic key, the concurrently authenticating and generating both based at least in part on a public key of an asymmetric key pair and in accordance with a Diffie-Hellman key exchange,
• the processor is configured to concurrently authenticate and generate by sending to the compute device a request including a first set of Diffie-Hellman key parameters and a nonce, the request being encrypted by a private key of the asymmetric key pair, the first set of Diffie-Hellman key parameters encrypted by a temporary key, the concurrently authenticating and generating including receiving from the compute device a reply including a second set of Diffie-Hellman key parameters and the nonce, the reply being encrypted at least by the public key, the second set of Diffie-Hellman key parameters being encrypted by the temporary key, the authenticating the compute device based on the nonce, the generating the traffic key based on the second set of Diffie-Hellman key parameters;
• and
• send a message to the compute device, the message being encrypted using the traffic key via symmetric encryption.

A method, comprising:

• sending, to a compute device, a public key of an asymmetric key pair for asymmetric encryption via a private channel;
• concurrently authenticating the compute device and generating a traffic key for symmetric encryption, the concurrently authenticating and generating both based at least in part on the public key and a nonce and in accordance with a Diffie-Hellman key exchange,
• the concurrently authenticating and generating includes:
• sending to the compute device a request including the nonce and a first set of Diffie-Hellman key parameters, the request being encrypted by a private key of the asymmetric key pair, the first set of Diffie-Hellman key parameters encrypted by a temporary key;
• and
• receiving from the compute device a reply including at least the nonce and a second set of Diffie-Hellman key parameters, the reply being encrypted at least by the public key, the second set of Diffie-Hellman key parameters being encrypted by the temporary key, the authenticating the compute device based on the nonce, the generating the traffic key based on the second set of Diffie-Hellman key parameters;
• and
• sending a message to the compute device, the message being encrypted using the traffic key via symmetric encryption.