Hardware Implementation of a Stealthy and Lightweight Backdoor for CRYSTALS-Kyber in Hybrid Cryptosystems

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Title: Hardware Implementation of a Stealthy and Lightweight Backdoor for CRYSTALS-Kyber in Hybrid Cryptosystems
Speaker:  Dr. Debapriya Basu Roy, Assistant Professor
                Department of Computer Science and Engineering 
                Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Date and time: Monday, July 27, 2026, 2:45-3:45 PM
Location:  George Mason University, Engineering Building room: ENGR 3507
 
Abstract: The threat of practical quantum attacks has catapulted viable alternatives, like Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), into prominence. The adoption and integration of standardized PQC primitives across the entire digital stack are promoted by various standardization bodies, governments, and major corporate houses. A serious challenge in quantum migration is ensuring that there is no hidden backdoor in the PQC implementations of a hybrid cryptosystem (supporting both pre-quantum and post-quantum algorithms), which are often procured from a third-party vendor. In this presentation, we investigate the possibility of a Kleptographic backdoor on the 
NIST-recommended key-encapsulation mechanism CRYSTALS-Kyber. The modified Kyber Key-Generation algorithm achieves an indistinguishable decryption failure probability that is indistinguishable from that of the original CRYSTALS-Kyber. The Kleptographic module is also implemented in an FPGA and embedded in the CRYSTALS-Kyber accelerator, with a very low area overhead (283 LUTs or 2% of total area). It can thus easily pass performance and functionality tests.

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  • George Mason University
  • 4511 Patriot Cir, Fairfax, VA 22030
  • Fairfax, Virginia
  • United States 22030
  • Building: Engineering Building
  • Room Number: 3507
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Hardware Implementation of a Stealthy and Lightweight Backdoor for CRYSTALS-Kyber in Hybrid Cryptosystems

 

Speaker: Dr. Debapriya Basu Roy received his PhD from IIT Kharagpur and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Technical University of Munich. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. His research interests include applied cryptography, hardware security, post-quantum cryptography, side channel analysis, and digital VLSI. Some of his notable contributions in the domain of hardware security include the efficient implementation of elliptic curve cryptography, the quantification and mitigation of side-channel leakage, and the implementation of post-quantum cryptography on FPGAs.
Contact: Dr. Debapriya Basu Roy (dbroy@cse.iitk.ac.in)