liboqs-python offers a Python module providing quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms via liboqs.
The Open Quantum Safe (OQS) project has the goal of developing and prototyping quantum-resistant cryptography.
liboqs is an open source C library for quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms. See more about liboqs at https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/, including a list of supported algorithms.
liboqs-python is an open source Python 3 wrapper for the liboqs C library. liboqs-python provides:
- a common API for post-quantum key encapsulation mechanisms and digital signature schemes
- a collection of open source implementations of post-quantum cryptography algorithms
The OQS project also provides prototype integrations into application-level protocols to enable testing of quantum-resistant cryptography.
More information on OQS can be found on our website: https://openquantumsafe.org/.
liboqs-python depends on the liboqs C library; liboqs master branch must first be compiled as a Linux/macOS/Windows library, see the specific platform building instructions below.
The project contains the following files:
oqs/wrapper.py: a Python 3 module wrapper for the liboqs C library.examples/example.py: illustrates the usage of the liboqs-python wrapper.tests/test_*.py: unit tests for the liboqs-python wrapper.
liboqs-python defines two main classes: KeyEncapsulation and Signature, providing post-quantum key encapsulation and signture mechanisms, respectively. Each must be instantiated with a string identifying one of mechanisms supported by liboqs; these can be enumerated using the get_enabled_KEM_mechanisms and get_enabled_sig_mechanisms functions. The example.py file demonstrates the wrapper's API.
liboqs-python depends on the liboqs C library; it must be compiled as a Linux/macOS library or Windows DLL, and installed in one of:
- any file path specified by the
LIBOQS_INSTALL_PATHenvironment variable (e.g.LIBOQS_INSTALL_PATH="/path/to/liboqs.so") - system-wide folder
- the liboqs Python module's current folder
wrapper.py checks the above locations in that order. At present, only liboqs master branch can be installed; see the liboqs project for installation instructions.
liboqs-python does not depend on any other Python packages. The package isn't hosted on PyPI yet, but can be installed into a virtualenv using:
# create & activate virtual environment, e.g.:
python3 -venv <virtualenv_name>
cd /some/dir/liboqs-python
python3 setup.py install
The liboqs-python project should be in the PYTHONPATH:
export PYTHONPATH=/some/dir/liboqs-python
As any python module, liboqs wrapper components can be imported into python programs with import oqs.
To run the example program:
python3 examples/example.py
To run the unit tests with a test runner (e.g. nose or rednose (apt install python3-nose python3-rednose or pip3 install nose rednose)):
python3 -m nose --rednose --verbose
To run the unit tests without a test runner:
python3 tests/test_kem.py
python3 tests/test_sig.py
The module has been tested using Python 3 on Linux Debian 10 (Buster), Linux Ubuntu 16.04.5 (Xenial), macOS 10.14.3, and Windows 10. We run continuous integration tests on CircleCI on Linux Debian 10 (Buster) and Linux Ubuntu 16.04.4 (Xenial) on x86_64.
liboqs is designed for prototyping and evaluating quantum-resistant cryptography. Security of proposed quantum-resistant algorithms may rapidly change as research advances, and may ultimately be completely insecure against either classical or quantum computers.
We believe that the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography standardization project is currently the best avenue to identifying potentially quantum-resistant algorithms. liboqs does not intend to "pick winners", and we strongly recommend that applications and protocols rely on the outcomes of the NIST standardization project when deploying post-quantum cryptography.
We acknowledge that some parties may want to begin deploying post-quantum cryptography prior to the conclusion of the NIST standardization project. We strongly recommend that any attempts to do make use of so-called hybrid cryptography, in which post-quantum public-key algorithms are used alongside traditional public key algorithms (like RSA or elliptic curves) so that the solution is at least no less secure than existing traditional cryptography.
Just like liboqs, liboqs-python is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. See LICENSE.txt for the full disclaimer.
liboqs-python is licensed under the MIT License; see LICENSE.txt for details.
The Open Quantum Safe project is led by Douglas Stebila and Michele Mosca at the University of Waterloo.
Contributors to the liboqs-python wrapper include:
- Ben Davies (University of Waterloo)
- Christian Paquin (Microsoft Research)
Financial support for the development of Open Quantum Safe has been provided by Amazon Web Services and the Tutte Institute for Mathematics and Computing.
We'd like to make a special acknowledgement to the companies who have dedicated programmer time to contribute source code to OQS, including Amazon Web Services, evolutionQ, and Microsoft Research.
Research projects which developed specific components of OQS have been supported by various research grants, including funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); see the source papers for funding acknowledgments.