Quantum-resistant encrypted multi-signature aggregation and context-aware adversarial double deep Q-networks for cloud user authentication

The emerging threats of quantum computing necessitate the development of authentication frameworks that are quantum-resistant for real-world authentication environments. In this paper, the Quantum-Resilient Authentication Network (Q-AuthNet) is proposed, a new authentication framework that combines strengthened post-quantum cryptographic security and adaptive deep reinforcement learning (DRL), thereby constructing a secure and scalable authentication framework. Q-AuthNet’s cryptographic building block is an Adaptive multi-key aggregation (AMkA)-Dilithium, which enhances side-channel resistance and reduces computational overhead An encrypted access control is also provided by means of a lightweight leveled homomorphic encryption (LLHE) scheme (building upon CKKS), which provides the ability to perform the security policy check with a minimal computational load. This architecture enhances the speed of signature validation making it appropriate to extensive authentication frameworks. In addition to its cryptographic innovation, Q-AuthNet features a custom reinforcement learning-based authentication classifier, where traditional deep Q-networks are augmented with context-aware decision-making methodologies. This capability enables the authentication framework to learn adaptively regarding evolving attack patterns, which improves detection accuracy without false positive spikes. With the synergy of this convolution of state-of-the-art authentication intelligence and quantum-resistant cryptographic breakthroughs, Q-AuthNet makes low-latency, highly accurate authentication with resistance against unauthorized access attempts possible. Thorough experiments demonstrate that Q-AuthNet outperforms traditional AI-based and cryptographic-based authentication frameworks, with enhanced classification accuracy (98.2%) and lower false positive (1.4%) and false negative (2.3%) rates. Moreover, the cryptographic design is optimized, which enables fast signature validation (4.3 ms) and minimal computation overhead (12.8% CPU), thus providing scalability in actual cloud authentication systems. With the ability to process 5200 authentication requests per second, Q-AuthNet emerges as a secure authentication framework that is able to counter classical as well as quantum-era cyber-attacks.