Title: A secure consensus mechanism for IoT-based energy internet using post-quantum blockchain

Authors: Yousra Angague; Hadil Sahraoui; Chahrazed Benrebbouh; Houssem Mansouri; Al-Sakib Khan Pathan

Addresses: LRSD Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, University Ferhat Abbas Setif 1, Setif, 19000, Algeria ' LRSD Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, University Ferhat Abbas Setif 1, Setif, 19000, Algeria ' LRSD Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, University Ferhat Abbas Setif 1, Setif, 19000, Algeria ' LRSD Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, University Ferhat Abbas Setif 1, Setif, 19000, Algeria ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, United International University, Dhaka, 1212, Bangladesh

Abstract: The energy internet (EI) is a cutting-edge technology with a vision to integrate diverse energy sources into an efficient and flexible grid. However, there are several critical security challenges for its real-life implementation due to its interconnected nature. Again, the advancement of another cutting-edge technology, quantum computing, heightens these concerns as it threatens the traditional cryptographic defences, making them vulnerable to quantum attacks. In this work, we introduce a secure consensus mechanism for IoT-based EI systems by integrating post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and blockchain technology. In our approach, we combine the strengths of two state-of-the-art protocols: a mutual authentication framework and a post-quantum consensus mechanism. We propose two secure consensus algorithms, leveraging the Dilithium and Falcon PQC schemes. With appropriate simulation studies, we show that the results demonstrate that our proposed approach significantly improves transaction throughput and reduces latency, providing a resilient framework for efficient and secure energy data management in a post-quantum world.

Keywords: blockchain; consensus; energy internet; EI; internet of things; IoT; post-quantum cryptography; PQC; quantum attack; security.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCSE.2025.148743

International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering, 2025 Vol.28 No.5, pp.571 - 584

Received: 25 Jun 2024
Accepted: 10 Dec 2024
Published online: 22 Sep 2025 *

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