scholarly journals A practical trojan horse for Bell-inequality-based quantum cryptography

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 434-442
Author(s):  
J. Larsson
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Cryptography ◽  
Quantum Channel ◽  
Quantum Key Distribution ◽  
Bell Inequality ◽  
Trojan Horse ◽  
Unconditional Security ◽  
Single Photons ◽  
Secret Key ◽  
Photon Polarization ◽  
At Will

Quantum Cryptography, or more accurately, Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is based on using an unconditionally secure ``quantum channel'' to share a secret key among two users. A manufacturer of QKD devices could, intentionally or not, use a (semi-)classical channel instead of the quantum channel, which would remove the supposedly unconditional security. One example is the BB84 protocol, where the quantum channel can be implemented in polarization of single photons. Here, use of several photons instead of one to encode each bit of the key provides a similar but insecure system. For protocols based on violation of a Bell inequality (e.g., the Ekert protocol) the situation is somewhat different. While the possibility is mentioned by some authors, it is generally thought that an implementation of a (semi-)classical channel will differ significantly from that of a quantum channel. Here, a counterexample will be given using an identical physical setup as is used in photon-polarization Ekert QKD. Since the physical implementation is identical, a manufacturer may include this modification as a Trojan Horse in manufactured systems, to be activated at will by an eavesdropper. Thus, the old truth of cryptography still holds: you have to trust the manufacturer of your cryptographic device. Even when you do violate the Bell inequality.

scholarly journals Intercept/resend and translucent attacks on the quantum key distribution protocol based on the pre- and post-selection effect

2021 ◽  
pp. 2150010
Author(s):  
Hiroo Azuma ◽  
Masashi Ban
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Cryptography ◽  
Quantum Channel ◽  
Quantum Key Distribution ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Selection Effect ◽  
Key Distribution ◽  
The Other ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Secret Key ◽  
Quantum Key Distribution Protocol

We investigate the security against the intercept/resend and translucent attacks on the quantum key distribution protocol based on the pre- and post-selection effect. In 2001, Bub proposed the quantum cryptography scheme, which was an application of the so-called mean king’s problem. We evaluate a probability that legitimate users cannot detect eavesdropper’s malicious acts for Bub’s protocol. We also estimate a probability that the eavesdropper guesses right at the random secret key one of the legitimate users tries to share with the other one. From rigorous mathematical and numerical analyses, we conclude that Bub’s protocol is weaker than the Bennett–Brassard protocol of 1984 (BB84) against both the intercept/resend and translucent attacks. Because Bub’s protocol uses a two-way quantum channel, the analyses of its security are tough to accomplish. We refer to their technical points accurately in the current paper. For example, we impose some constraints upon the eavesdropper’s strategies in order to let their degrees of freedom be small.

A qutrit quantum key distribution protocol using Bell inequalities with larger violation capabilities

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (15&16) ◽  
pp. 1295-1306
Author(s):  
Zoe Amblard ◽  
Francois Arnault
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Key Distribution ◽  
Bell Inequality ◽  
Bell Inequalities ◽  
Key Distribution ◽  
Trojan Horse ◽  
Noise Resistance ◽  
The One ◽  
Trojan Horse Attack ◽  
Quantum Key Distribution Protocol

The Ekert quantum key distribution protocol [1] uses pairs of entangled qubits and performs checks based on a Bell inequality to detect eavesdropping. The 3DEB protocol [2] uses instead pairs of entangled qutrits to achieve better noise resistance than the Ekert protocol. It performs checks based on a Bell inequality for qutrits named CHSH-3 and found in [3, 4]. In this paper, we present a new protocol, which also uses pairs of entangled qutrits, but gaining advantage of a Bell inequality which achieves better noise resistance than the one used in 3DEB. The latter inequality is called here hCHSH-3 and was discovered in [5]. For each party, the hCHSH-3 inequality involves four observables already used in CHSH-3 but also two products of observables which do not commute. We explain how the parties can measure the observables corresponding to these products and thus are able to check the violation of hCHSH-3. In the presence of noise, this violation guarantees the security against a local Trojan horse attack. We also designed a version of our protocol which is secure against individual attacks.

Lightweight mediated semi-quantum key distribution protocol

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (34) ◽  
pp. 1950281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Wei Tsai ◽  
Chun-Wei Yang ◽  
Narn-Yih Lee
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Key Distribution ◽  
Key Distribution ◽  
Trojan Horse ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Secret Key ◽  
Photon Detector ◽  
Transmission Strategy ◽  
Secret Keys ◽  
The One ◽  
Trojan Horse Attack

Classical users can share a secret key with a quantum user by using a semi-quantum key distribution (SQKD) protocol. Allowing two classical users to share a secret key is the objective of the mediated semi-quantum key distribution (MSQKD) protocol. However, the existing MSQKD protocols need a quantum user to assist two classical users in distributing the secret keys, and these protocols require that the classical users be equipped with a Trojan horse photon detector. This reduces the practicability of the MSQKD protocols. Therefore, in this study we propose a lightweight MSQKD, in which the two participants and third party are classical users. Due to the usage of the one-way transmission strategy, the proposed lightweight MSQKD protocol is free from quantum Trojan horse attack. The proposed MSQKD is more practical than the existing MSQKD protocols.

scholarly journals Security of quantum key distribution with state-dependent imperfections

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (11&12) ◽  
pp. 937-947
Author(s):  
Hong-Wei Li ◽  
Zhen-Qiang Yin ◽  
Shuang Wang ◽  
Wan-Su Bao ◽  
Guang-Can Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Error Rate ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Quantum Channel ◽  
Quantum Key Distribution ◽  
Phase Error ◽  
Key Distribution ◽  
The State ◽  
Secret Key ◽  
Quantum Bit ◽  
State Dependent

In practical quantum key distribution system, the state preparation and measurement have state-dependent imperfections comparing with the ideal BB84 protocol. If the state-dependent imperfection can not be regarded as an unitary transformation, it should not be considered as part of quantum channel noise introduced by the eavesdropper, the commonly used secret key rate formula GLLP can not be applied correspondingly. In this paper, the unconditional security of quantum key distribution with state-dependent imperfections will be analyzed by estimating upper bound of the phase error rate in the quantum channel and the imperfect measurement. Interestingly, since Eve can not control all phase error in the quantum key distribution system, the final secret key rate under constant quantum bit error rate can be improved comparing with the perfect quantum key distribution protocol.

scholarly journals Perfect Reconciliation in Quantum Key Distribution with Order-Two Frames

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Adrián Lizama-Pérez ◽  
José Mauricio López-Romero
Keyword(s):  
Error Rate ◽  
Quantum Channel ◽  
Quantum Key Distribution ◽  
Key Distribution ◽  
Data Networks ◽  
Secret Key ◽  
Software Update ◽  
Channel Error ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Reconciliation Method

We present an error reconciliation method for Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) that corrects 100% of errors generated in regular binary frames transmitted over a noisy quantum channel regardless of the quantum channel error rate. In a previous investigation, we introduced a novel distillation QKD algorithm whose secret key rate descends linearly with respect to the channel error rate. Now, as the main achievement of this work, we demonstrate an improved algorithm capable of retaining almost all the secret information enclosed in the regular binary frames. Remarkably, this technique increases quadratically the secret key rate as a function of the double matching detection events and doubly quadratically in the number of the quantum pulses. Furthermore, this reconciliation method opens up the opportunity to use less attenuated quantum pulses, would allow greater QKD distances at drastically increased secret key rate. Since our method can be implemented as a software update, we hope that quantum key distribution technology would be fast deployed over global data networks in the quantum era.

scholarly journals SECURITY OF QUANTUM KEY DISTRIBUTION

2008 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
RENATO RENNER
Keyword(s):  
Representation Theorem ◽  
Physical System ◽  
Quantum Channel ◽  
Quantum Key Distribution ◽  
Key Distribution ◽  
Symmetry Condition ◽  
Secret Key ◽  
Independence Condition ◽  
Security Proof ◽  
Joint State

Quantum Information Theory is an area of physics which studies both fundamental and applied issues in quantum mechanics from an information-theoretical viewpoint. The underlying techniques are, however, often restricted to the analysis of systems which satisfy a certain independence condition. For example, it is assumed that an experiment can be repeated independently many times or that a large physical system consists of many virtually independent parts. Unfortunately, such assumptions are not always justified. This is particularly the case for practical applications — e.g. in quantum cryptography — where parts of a system might have an arbitrary and unknown behavior. We propose an approach which allows us to study general physical systems for which the above mentioned independence condition does not necessarily hold. It is based on an extension of various information-theoretical notions. For example, we introduce new uncertainty measures, called smooth min- and max-entropy, which are generalizations of the von Neumann entropy. Furthermore, we develop a quantum version of de Finetti's representation theorem, as described below. Consider a physical system consisting of n parts. These might, for instance, be the outcomes of n runs of a physical experiment. Moreover, we assume that the joint state of this n-partite system can be extended to an (n + k)-partite state which is symmetric under permutations of its parts (for some k ≫ 1). The de Finetti representation theorem then says that the original n-partite state is, in a certain sense, close to a mixture of product states. Independence thus follows (approximatively) from a symmetry condition. This symmetry condition can easily be met in many natural situations. For example, it holds for the joint state of n parts, which are chosen at random from an arbitrary (n + k)-partite system. As an application of these techniques, we prove the security of quantum key distribution (QKD), i.e. secret key agreement by communication over a quantum channel. In particular, we show that, in order to analyze QKD protocols, it is generally sufficient to consider so-called collective attacks, where the adversary is restricted to applying the same operation to each particle sent over the quantum channel separately. The proof is generic and thus applies to known protocols such as BB84 and B92 (where better bounds on the secret-key rate and on the the maximum tolerated noise level of the quantum channel are obtained) as well as to continuous variable schemes (where no full security proof has been known). Furthermore, the security holds with respect to a strong so-called universally composable definition. This implies that the keys generated by a QKD protocol can safely be used in any application, e.g. for one-time pad encryption — which, remarkably, is not the case for most standard definitions.

AUTHENTICATED QUANTUM KEY DISTRIBUTION WITHOUT CLASSICAL COMMUNICATION

2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (03) ◽  
pp. 323-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
NAYA NAGY ◽  
SELIM G. AKL
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Channel ◽  
Quantum Key Distribution ◽  
Communication Channel ◽  
Quantum Communication ◽  
Key Distribution ◽  
Secret Key ◽  
Classical Communication ◽  
Quantum Communication Channel ◽  
High Security ◽  
Public Keys

The aim of quantum key distribution protocols is to establish a secret key among two parties with high security confidence. Such algorithms generally require a quantum channel and an authenticated classical channel. This paper presents a totally new perception of communication in such protocols. The quantum communication alone satisfies all needs of array communication between the two parties. Even so, the quantum communication channel does not need to be protected or authenticated whatsoever. As such, our algorithm is a purely quantum key distribution algorithm. The only certain identification of the two parties is through public keys.

Quantum cryptography and quantum-key distribution with single photons

2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. L. Kurochkin ◽  
I. I. Ryabtsev ◽  
I. G. Neizvestny
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Cryptography ◽  
Quantum Key Distribution ◽  
Key Distribution ◽  
Single Photons

scholarly journals High-speed device-independent quantum key distribution against collective attacks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Wen-Zhao Liu ◽  
Yu-Zhe Zhang ◽  
Yi-Zheng Zhen ◽  
Ming-Han Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Key Distribution ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Detection Efficiency ◽  
Bell Inequality ◽  
Key Distribution ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Secret Key ◽  
Security Proofs ◽  
Secret Keys ◽  
High Detection Efficiency

Abstract The security of quantum key distribution (QKD) usually relies on that the users’s devices are well characterized according to the security models made in the security proofs. In contrast,device-independent QKD an entanglement-based protocol permits the security even without any knowledge of the underlying devices. Despite its beauty in theory, device-independent QKD is elusive to realize with current technology. This is because a faithful realization requires ahigh-quality violation of Bell inequality without the fair-sampling assumption. Particularly, in a photonic realization, a rather high detection efficiency is needed where the threshold values depend on the security proofs; this efficiency is far beyond the current reach. Here, both theoretical and experimental innovations yield the realization of device-independent QKD based on a photonic setup. On the theory side, to relax the threshold efficiency for practical deviceindependent QKD, we exploit the random post-selection combined with adding noise for preprocessing, and compute the entropy with complete nonlocal correlations. On the experiment side, we develop a high-quality polarization-entangled photonic source and achieve state-of-theart (heralded) detection efficiency of 87.49%, which outperforms previous experiments and satisfies the threshold efficiency for the first time. Together, we demonstrate device-independent QKD at a secret key rate of 466 bits/s over 20 m standard fiber in the asymptotic limit against collective attacks. Besides, we show the feasibility of generating secret keys at a fiber length of 220 meters. Importantly, our photonic implementation can generate entangled photons at a high rate and in the telecom wavelength, which is desirable for high-speed key generation over long distances. The results not only prove the feasibility of device-independent QKD with realistic devices, but also push the security of communication to an unprecedented level.

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