Trade-offs in Post-Quantum Cryptography: A Comparative Assessment of BIKE, HQC, and Classic McEliece

This study investigates the trade-offs inherent in three prominent post-quantum cryptographic algorithms: BIKE, HQC, and Classic McEliece. The evaluation of these algorithms was carried out across three different levels of security (L1, L3, and L5), centered on two crucial aspects: cryptographic size parameters and performance efficiency. Classic McEliece emerged as a space-demanding algorithm with significantly larger key sizes but managed to maintain relatively small ciphertext sizes. Conversely, HQC and BIKE presented smaller key and ciphertext sizes, indicating their potential suitability for applications with strict size constraints. In terms of computational costs, Classic McEliece required substantial resources for key generation, whereas HQC and BIKE exhibited balanced performance profiles. The findings underscore the importance of context-specific considerations when choosing an appropriate post-quantum cryptographic algorithm, highlighting the varying strengths and limitations of the analyzed algorithms.