PRIVACY-PRESERVING SECURE FILE SHARING USING QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY, BLOCKCHAIN, AND ZERO-KNOWLEDGE AUTHENTICATION
This research introduces a novel Unified Quantum-Resilient Blockchain-Zero Knowledge Proofs Privacy Authentication Framework (QBC-ZKPAF) aimed at enhancing security in IoT environments. The system combines post-quantum cryptography, blockchain technology, and Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) to provide secure communication, access management, and privacy-preserving authentication. It uses a Deep Q-Network Multi-Factor safe Key (DQN-MFSK) for dynamic key selection, a hybrid Reinforcement-Lattice Blockchain Key Generation for quantum-resilient key creation, and Zero-Knowledge Proofs for privacy-preserving signatures to ensure a safe Internet of Things environment. Data privacy, secrecy, auditability, traceability, and resistance to changing threats, such as quantum attacks, are all guaranteed by this architecture. Transparency and thorough post-event audit trails are supported by the blockchain ledger's immutability, which records all access attempts, data exchanges, and device interactions in an unchangeable way. Through a tracing key kept on the audit server within the Zero Trust Architecture, the architecture allows accurate source tracing in the event of suspicious activity or breaches. QBC-ZKPAF provides strong security and privacy solutions for Internet of Things networks by adopting multi-factor authentication and decentralizing identity management. The framework's efficacy is confirmed by experimental results, which show 98% privacy preservation, 700 TPS throughput, 0.98 quantum resilience, and 96% access control effectiveness, making it ideal for contemporary blockchain and IoT applications.