# Combating Fake News with Cryptography in Quantum Era with Post-Quantum Verifiable Image Proofs
## 10 Implementation  
To validate the efficiency and scalability claims of Post-Quantum VerITAS, we conducted a series of experiments using two operational modes. These benchmarks were performed on a workstation with an Intel i9-12900K CPU, 64 GB RAM, using the artworks Rust library and HyperPlonk circuits compiled with post-quantum field settings. We tested common image edits (cropping, resizing, blurring, and grayscale conversion) on high-resolution 30 MP images (\(\sim\)90 MB). The table below presents average proof generation and verification times for both modes. Mode 1 represents computationally limited signers (e.g., digital cameras), while Mode 2 reflects resource-rich environments (e.g., cloud services like OpenAI). These results demonstrate the framework's feasibility for real-time and browser-based applications, even in post-quantum settings. See Table 3.  
The proof generation process leverages several post-quantum secure cryptographic tools and optimizations to ensure efficiency, scalability, and resistance to quantum attacks. The system uses artworks (a Rust library) for hashing proofs and HyperPlonk for photo editing proofs. Additionally, it incorporates CRYSTALS-Dilithium signature proofs combined with Lattice+Poseidon hashes for enhanced security. 1. FRI Polynomial Commitments: * The proof system is based on FRI (Fast Reed-Solomon Interactive Oracle Proof of Proximity), a post-quantum secure polynomial commitment scheme. FRI provides succinct and efficient proofs for polynomial evaluations without relying on pairing-friendly curves, making it resistant to quantum attacks. * FRI is implemented using artworks Gemini, ensuring compatibility with the rest of the system. 2. HyperPlonk for Poseidon Hash Preimage: * The HyperPlonk proof system is used to prove the preimage of the post-quantum Poseidon hash, ensuring the integrity of the hash computation. HyperPlonk is an advanced zk-SNARK framework that offers linear prover time and succinct proofs, making it highly efficient for large-scale computations. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Mode** & **Operation** & **Proof Time (s)** & **Title 3** \\ \hline
1 & Crop + Grayscale & 42.3 & 0.9 \\
2 & Crop + Resize + Blur & 18.1 & 0.9 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Runtime performance of Post-Quantum VerITAS. * The Poseidon hash function has been modified to be post-quantum secure by:
* Increasing the output size to 512 bits to counteract [PERSON]'s algorithm. * Using larger finite fields (e.g., 512-bit primes) to resist [PERSON]'s algorithm. * Strengthening the permutation layer with cubic or quartic S-boxes and optimized MDS matrices. * Optimized Verification:
* Freivalds' Algorithm: Used to efficiently check matrix-vector products, reducing computational overhead, while maintaining post-quantum security. * Precomputed Row Commitments: These reduce the verifier's time by 800\(\times\), making the system highly scalable even for high-resolution images. Photo Editing Proofs (Hyper Plonk SNARK Circuits): The system supports various photo editing operations, each implemented as a HyperPlonk SNARK circuit: 1. Cropping: Extracts pixels from a selected range, ensuring the edited image is a valid subset of the original. 2. Grayscale: Applies Adobe's grayscale formula, which computes a weighted sum of the RGB channels, as follows: \[\text{Grayscale}=0.2989\cdot\text{R}+0.5870\cdot\text{G}+0.1140\cdot\text{B.Grayscale}=0.2989 \cdot\text{R}+0.5870\cdot\text{G}+0.1140\cdot\text{B.}\]
* Resizing: Uses bilinear interpolation with floating-point handling to ensure smooth resizing while preserving image quality. * Blurring: Applies a box blur with privacy-preserving rounding to prevent leakage of sensitive information during the blurring process. A consistency check ensures that the original photo remains consistent across both the hash and editing proofs. This is achieved using polynomial commitments, which bind the original image to its edited versions and hash values.