Post-Quantum Traceable Anonymous Cross-Domain Authentication for Blockchain-Based IoT

With the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) applications, secure and efficient cross-domain information sharing has become essential. Traditional cross-domain authentication approaches that rely on real device identities pose significant privacy risks, while fully anonymous schemes often lack accountability for malicious behavior. Additionally, emerging quantum computing capabilities threaten the security of classical cryptographic systems. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a post-quantum secure, traceable anonymous cross-domain authentication scheme based on blockchain technology. The scheme incorporates lattice-based certificateless cryptography and quantum-resistant hash functions to ensure resilience against quantum attacks. Devices are assigned multiple unlinkable pseudonymous identities with corresponding post-quantum public-private key pairs. A dynamic accumulator is employed to update domain information, and distinct pseudonyms are used for each authentication. Cross-domain credentials issued by a key generation center enable identity verification without exposing real identities. The system ensures both device privacy and traceability of malicious actors. Formal security proofs and BAN logic analysis confirm the scheme’s robustness against classical and quantum-era threats. Compared with existing classical approaches, the proposed scheme achieves strong post-quantum security with reduced computational and communication overhead during the authentication process.