In this comment we point out that the 'quantum dialogue' (Phys. Lett. A (in press); quant-ph/0406130) can be eavesdropped under the intercept-and-resend attack. We also give a revised control mode to detect this attack.
The disturbance effect of a depolarizing channel on the security of the quantum key distribution of the four state BB84 protocol with multiple sequentiel intercept and resend attacks of many eavesdroppers, has been studied. The quantum bit error rate and the mutual information are computed for arbitray number of attacks.
Counterfactual quantum cryptography (CQC), recently proposed by Noh, is featured with no transmission of signal particles. This exhibits evident security advantage, such as its immunity to the well known PNS attack. In this paper, the theoretical security of CQC protocol against the general intercept-resend attacks is proved by bounding the information of an eavesdropper Eve more tightly than in Yin's proposal[Phys. Rev. A 82, 042335 (2010)]. It is also showed that practical CQC implementations may be vulnerable when equipped with imperfect apparatuses, by proving that a negative key rate can …
Unconditional security proofs of the Bennett-Brassard protocol of quantum key distribution have been obtained recently. These proofs cover also practical implementations that utilize weak coherent pulses in the four signal polarizations. Proven secure rates leave open the possibility that new proofs or new public discussion protocols obtain larger rates over increased distance. In this paper we investigate limits to error rate and signal losses that can be tolerated by future protocols and proofs.
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 analyse…
Practical implementations of quantum key distribution (QKD) have been shown to be subject to various detector side-channel attacks that compromise the promised unconditional security. Most notable is a general class of attacks adopting the use of faked-state photons as in the detector-control and, more broadly, the intercept-resend attacks. In this paper, we present a simple scheme to overcome such class of attacks: A legitimate user, Bob, uses a polarization randomizer at his gateway to distort an ancillary polarization of a phase-encoded photon in a bidirectional QKD configuration. Passing t…
Optical physical unclonable keys are currently considered to be rather promising candidates for the development of entity authentication protocols, which offer security against both classical and quantum adversaries. In this work we investigate the robustness of a continuous-variable protocol, which relies on the scattering of coherent states of light from the key, against three different types of intercept-resend emulation attacks. The performance of the protocol is analysed for a broad range of physical parameters, and our results are compared to existing security bounds.
Two protocols of quantum direct communication with authentication [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 73}, 042305 (2006)] are recently proposed by Lee, Lim and Yang. In this paper we will show that in the two protocols the authenticator Trent should be prevented from knowing the secret message of communication. The first protocol can be eavesdropped by Trent using the the intercept-measure-resend attack, while the second protocol can be eavesdropped by Trent using single-qubit measurement. To fix these leaks, I revise the original versions of the protocols by using the Pauli-Z operation $σ_z$ instead of the or…
Intermediate states are known from intercept/resend eavesdropping in the BB84 quantum cryptographic protocol. But they also play fundamental roles in the optimal eavesdropping strategy on BB84 and in the CHSH inequality. We generalize the intermediate states to arbitrary dimension and consider intercept/resend eavesdropping, optimal eavesdropping on the generalized BB84 protocol and present a generalized CHSH inequality for two entangled quNits based on these states.
We present a quantum dialogue protocol by using the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state. In this paper, we point out that the `quantum dialogue' communication scheme recently introduced by Nguyen can be eavesdropped on under an intercept-and-resend attack. We also give a revised control mode to detect this attack. Hence, within the present version two users can exchange their secret messages securely and simultaneously, and the efficiency of information transmission can be successfully increased.
The unique features of quantum walk, such as the possibility of the walker to be in superposition ofthe position space and get entangled with the position space, provides inherent advantages that canbe captured to design highly secure quantum communication protocols. Here we propose two quan-tum direct communication protocols, a Quantum Secure Direct Communication (QSDC) protocoland a Controlled Quantum Dialogue (CQD) protocol using discrete-time quantum walk on a cycle.The proposed protocols are unconditionally secure against various attacks such as the intercept-resend attack, the denial of …
We propose an entanglement-based protocol for two people to simultaneously exchange their messages. We show that the protocol is asymptotically secure against the disturbance attack, the intercept-and-resend attack and the entangle-and-measure attack. Our protocol is experimentally feasible within current technologies.
We propose a framework of bit commitment protocol using a comparison scheme and present a compound comparison scheme based on counterfactual cryptography. Finally, we propose a counterfactual quantum bit commitment protocol. In security analysis, we give the proper security parameters for counterfactual quantum bit commitment and prove that intercept attack and intercept/resend attack are ineffective attack for our protocol. In addition, we explain that counterfactual quantum bit commitment protocol cannot be attacked with no-go theorem attack by current technology.
In 2004, Ba An Nguyen [Phys. Lett. A 328, 6-10] has presented a Quantum Dialogue scheme for simultaneously communicating their messages. In this comment, we show that the quantum dialogue scheme is not secure against the intercept-and-resend attack and we propose a modified scheme which is secure against that attack.
We present a scheme for three-party simultaneous quantum secure direct communication by using EPR pairs. In the scheme, three legitimate parties can simultaneously exchange their secret messages. It is also proved to be secure against the intercept-and-resend attack, the disturbance attack and the entangled-and-measure attack.
In this paper, we propose a novel two-party semiquantum key distribution (SQKD) protocol by only employing one kind of GHZ-like state. The proposed SQKD protocol can create a private key shared between one quantum party with unlimited quantum abilities and one classical party with limited quantum abilities without the existence of a third party. The proposed SQKD protocol doesn't need the Hadamard gate or quantum entanglement swapping. Detailed security analysis turns out that the proposed SQKD protocol can resist various famous attacks from an outside eavesdropper, such as the Trojan horse at…
Gao et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 208901 (2008)] have described a possible intercept-resend attack for the quantum protocol for detectable Byzantine agreement in Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 070504 (2008). Here we describe an extension of the protocol which defeats such attacks.
An intercept-resend attack on a continuous-variable quantum-key-distribution protocol is investigated experimentally. By varying the interception fraction, one can implement a family of attacks where the eavesdropper totally controls the channel parameters. In general, such attacks add excess noise in the channel, and may also result in non-Gaussian output distributions. We implement and characterize the measurements needed to detect these attacks, and evaluate experimentally the information rates available to the legitimate users and the eavesdropper. The results are consistent with the optim…
We investigate the security of continuous-variable (CV) quantum key distribution (QKD) using coherent states in the presence of quadrature excess noise. We consider an eavesdropping attack which uses a linear amplifier and beam splitter. This attack makes a link between beam-splitting attack and intercept-resend attack (classical teleportation attack). We also show how postselection loses its efficiency in a realistic channel.
Security analysis of orthogonal state attack on a high-speed quantum key distribution system
College of Computer Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology(国防科技大学计算机学院);School of Automation, Central South University(中南大学自动化学院);Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China(中国科学技术大学量子信息实验室);Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Quantum Network, University of Science and Technology of China(中国科学技术大学安徽省量子网络重点实验室);Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China(中国科学技术大学合肥国家实验室)
We reply to the Comment made in arXiv:1107.4435v1 [quant-ph] (Phys. Lett. A \textbf{374} (2010) 1097) by noting some erroneous considerations therein resulting in a misleading view of the quantum key distribution protocol in question. We then correct the rates provided for the Intercept-and-Resend attack and we complete the analysis of Eve's attack based on a double CNOT gate.
We investigate limitations imposed by sequential attacks on the performance of differential-phase-shift quantum key distribution protocols that use pulsed coherent light. In particular, we analyze two sequential attacks based on unambiguous state discrimination and minimum error discrimination, respectively, of the signal states emitted by the source. Sequential attacks represent a special type of intercept-resend attacks and, therefore, they do not allow the distribution of a secret key.
We present a three-party simultaneous quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) scheme by using Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states. This scheme can be directly generalized to $N$-party QSDC by using $n$-particle GHZ states. We show that the many-party simultaneous QSDC scheme is secure not only against the intercept-and-resend attack but also against the disturbance attack.
In this paper, a novel semi-quantum key distribution (SQKD) protocol is designed based on single photons in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom, which allows to establish a raw key between one quantum communicant and one classical communicant. The proposed SQKD protocol only adopts one kind of quantum state as the initial quantum resource. The detailed security analysis shows that it can resist Eve's active attacks, such as the intercept-resend attack, the measure-resend attack, the Trojan horse attack and the entangle-measure attack. The proposed SQKD protocol only needs sin…
In this paper, two information leakage resistant quantum dialogue (QD) protocols over a collective-noise channel are proposed. Decoherence-free subspace (DFS) is used to erase the influence from two kinds of collective noise, i.e., collective-dephasing noise and collective-rotation noise, where each logical qubit is composed of two physical qubits and free from noise. In each of the two proposed protocols, the secret messages are encoded on the initial logical qubits via two composite unitary operations. Moreover, the single-photon measurements rather than the Bell-state measurements or the mo…
In this paper, a novel quantum dialogue (QD) protocol is proposed based on single photons in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom. In the proposed QD protocol, the initial states of single photons in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom used for encoding are privately shared between two communicants through the direct transmissions of their auxiliary counterparts from one communicant to another. As a result, the information leakage problem is avoided. Moreover, the detailed security analysis also shows that the proposed QD protocol can resist Eve's several fam…
In this paper, we give the mutually unbiased bases on the p^2 -dimensional quantum system where p is an odd prime number, and construct the corresponding unitary transformation based on the properties of these mutually unbiased bases. Then, we construct a (N,N) threshold secret sharing scheme using unitary transformation between these mutually unbiased bases, and analyze the scheme's security by several ways, for example, intercept-and-resend attack, entangle-and-measure attack, Trojan horse attack, and so on. Using our method, we construct a single-particle quantum protocol involving only one…
We study a practical method to measure the shot noise in real time in Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution (CVQKD) systems. The amount of secret key that can be extracted from the raw statistics depends strongly on this quantity since it affects in particular the computation of the excess noise (i.e. noise in excess of the shot noise) added by an eavesdropper on the quantum channel. Some powerful quantum hacking attacks relying on faking the estimated value of the shot noise to hide an intercept and resend strategy were proposed. Here, we provide experimental evidence that our method c…
Semi-quantum secret sharing (SQSS) is an important branch of semi-quantum cryptography, and differs from quantum secret sharing (QSS) in that not all parties are required to possess quantum capabilities. All previous SQSS protocols have three common features: (1) they adopt product states or entangled states as initial quantum resource; (2) the particles prepared by quantum party are transmitted in a tree-type way; and (3) they require the classical parties to possess the measurement capability. In this paper, two circular SQSS protocols with single particles are suggested, where the first one…
We present a new protocol for practical quantum cryptography, tailored for an implementation with weak coherent pulses. The key is obtained by a very simple time-of-arrival measurement on the data line; an interferometer is built on an additional monitoring line, allowing to monitor the presence of a spy (who would break coherence by her intervention). Against zero-error attacks (the analog of photon-number-splitting attacks), this protocol performs as well as standard protocols with strong reference pulses: the key rate decreases only as the transmission $t$ of the quantum channel. We present…
Unconditional security proofs of various quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols are built on idealized assumptions. One key assumption is: the sender (Alice) can prepare the required quantum states without errors. However, such an assumption may be violated in a practical QKD system. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate a technically feasible "intercept-and-resend" attack that exploits such a security loophole in a commercial "plug & play" QKD system. The resulting quantum bit error rate is 19.7%, which is below the proven secure bound of 20.0% for the BB84 protocol. The attack we ut…
We present a fake-signal-and-cheating attack strategy for the dishonest agent in quantum secret sharing (QSS) to steal the information of the other agents' fully and freely. It is found that almost all the QSS protocols existing, such as the two famous QSS protocols, the Hillery-Bu$\check{z}$ek-Berthiaume [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{59}, 1829 (1999)] and the Karlsson-Koashi-Imoto [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{59}, 162 (1999)], can be eavesdropped freely if the process for the eavesdropping check is accomplished with the cooperation of the dishonest agent. He can sends a fake signal to the other agents after…
In this paper, we put forward a novel single-state three-party semiquantum key agreement (SQKA) protocol with three-particle GHZ entangled states first. Different with previous quantum key agreement (QKA) protocols, the proposed single-state three-party SQKA protocol can realize the goal that a quantum party and two classical parties who only possess limited quantum capabilities equally contribute to the generation of a shared private key over quantum channels. Detailed security analysis turns out that the proposed single-state three-party SQKA protocol is secure against several famous attacks…
Recently, Yan et al. proposed a quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) protocol with authentication using single photons and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) pairs (Yan et al., CMC-Computers, Materials \& Continua, 63(3), 2020). In this work, we show that the QSDC protocol is not secure against intercept-and-resend attack and impersonation attack. An eavesdropper can get the full secret message by applying these attacks. We propose a modification of this protocol, which defeats the above attacks along with all the familiar attacks.
Establishing an information-theoretic secret key between two parties using a quantum key distribution (QKD) system is only possible when an accurate characterization of the quantum channel and proper device calibration routines are combined. Indeed, security loopholes due to inappropriate calibration routines have been shown for discrete-variable QKD. Here, we propose and provide experimental evidence of an attack targeting the local oscillator calibration routine of a continuous-variable QKD system. The attack consists in manipulating the classical local oscillator pulses during the QKD run i…
In [J.S. Shaari, M. Lucamarini, M.R.B. Wahiddin, Phys. Lett. A 358 (2006) 85-90] the deterministic six states protocol (6DP) for quantum communication has been developed. This protocol is based on three mutually unbiased bases and four encoding operators. Information is transmitted between the users via two qubits from different bases. Three attacks have been studied; namely intercept-resend attack (IRA), double-CNOT attack (2CNOTA) and quantum man-in-the-middle attack. In this Letter, we show that the IRA and 2CNOTA are not properly addressed. For instance, we show that the probability of det…
We present a method to control the detection events in quantum key distribution systems that use gated single-photon detectors. We employ bright pulses as faked states, timed to arrive at the avalanche photodiodes outside the activation time. The attack can remain unnoticed, since the faked states do not increase the error rate per se. This allows for an intercept-resend attack, where an eavesdropper transfers her detection events to the legitimate receiver without causing any errors. As a side effect, afterpulses, originating from accumulated charge carriers in the detectors, increase the err…
We have built an imaging system that uses a photon's position or time-of-flight information to image an object, while using the photon's polarization for security. This ability allows us to obtain an image which is secure against an attack in which the object being imaged intercepts and resends the imaging photons with modified information. Popularly known as "jamming," this type of attack is commonly directed at active imaging systems such as radar. In order to jam our imaging system, the object must disturb the delicate quantum state of the imaging photons, thus introducing statistical error…
The ability of an eavesdropper (Eve) to perform an intercept-resend attack on a free-space quantum key distribution (QKD) receiver by precisely controlling the incidence angle of an attack laser has been previously demonstrated. However, such an attack could be ineffective in the presence of atmospheric turbulence due to beam wander and spatial mode aberrations induced by the air's varying index of refraction. We experimentally investigate the impact turbulence has on Eve's attack on a free-space polarization-encoding QKD receiver by emulating atmospheric turbulence with a spatial light modula…
This paper presents a multi-stage, multi-photon quantum key distribution protocol based on the double-lock cryptography. It exploits the asymmetry in the detection strategies between the legitimate users and the eavesdropper. The security analysis of the protocol is presented with coherent states under the intercept-resend attack, the photon number splitting attack, and the man-in-the-middle attack. It is found that the mean photon number can be much larger than one. This complements the recent interest in multi-photon quantum communication protocols that require a pre-shared key between the l…
By introducing a semi-honest third party (TP), we propose in this paper a novel QPC protocol using (n+1)- qubit (n \ge 2) Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states as information carriers. The parameter n not only determines the number of qubits contained in a GHZ state, but also determines the probability that TP can successfully steal the participants' data and the qubit efficiency. In the proposed protocol, we do not employ any other quantum technologies (e.g., entanglement swapping and unitary operation) except necessary technologies such as preparing quantum states and quantum measurements…
A broadcasting multiple blind signature scheme based on quantum GHZ entanglement has been presented recently by Tian et al. It is said that the scheme's unconditional security is guaranteed by adopting quantum key preparation, quantum encryption algorithm and quantum entanglement. In this paper, we prove that each signatory can get the signed message just by an intercept-resend attack. Then, we show there still exists some participant attacks and external attacks. Specifically, we verify the message sender Alice can impersonate each signatory to sign the message at will, and so is the signatur…
Recently, Li et al. [Phys. Rev. A, 82(2), 022303] presented two semi-quantum secret sharing (SQSS) protocols using GHZ-like states. The proposed schemes are rather practical because only the secret dealer requires to equip with advanced quantum devices such as quantum memory, whereas the other agents can merely perform classical operations to complete the secret sharing. However, this study points out that a security pitfall exists in the eavesdropping check phase of both schemes that could mount to an Intercept-resend attack and a Trojan horse attack on the two schemes, respectively, to discl…
Technical means for identifying when tampering occurs is a critical part of many containment and surveillance technologies. Conventional fiber optic seals provide methods for monitoring enclosed inventories, but they are vulnerable to spoofing attacks based on classical physics. We address these vulnerabilities with the development of a quantum seal that offers the ability to detect the intercept-resend attack using quantum integrity verification. Our approach represents an application of entanglement to provide guarantees in the authenticity of the seal state by verifying it was transmitted c…
Here, we investigate the security of the practical one-way CVQKD and CV-MDI-QKD systems under laser seeding attack. In particular, Eve can inject a suitable light into the laser diodes of the light source modules in the two kinds of practical CVQKD systems, which results in the increased intensity of the generated optical signal. The parameter estimation under the attack shows that the secret key rates of these two schemes may be overestimated, which opens a security loophole for Eve to successfully perform an intercept-resend attack on these systems. To close this loophole, we propose a real-…
Single photon detectors based on passively-quenched avalanche photodiodes can be temporarily blinded by relatively bright light, of intensity less than a nanowatt. I describe a bright-light regime suitable for attacking a quantum key distribution system containing such detectors. In this regime, all single photon detectors in the receiver Bob are uniformly blinded by continuous illumination coming from the eavesdropper Eve. When Eve needs a certain detector in Bob to produce a click, she modifies polarization (or other parameter used to encode quantum states) of the light she sends to Bob such…
Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol has been proved to provide unconditionally secure key between two remote legitimate users in theory. Key distribution signals are transmitted in a quantum channel which is established by the calibration process to meet the requirement of high count rate and low error rate. All QKD security proofs implicitly assume that the quantum channel has been established securely. However, the eavesdropper may attack the calibration process to break the security assumption of QKD and provide precondition to steal information about the final key successfully. Inspire…
Spectral Attack on Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution Systems
Shanghai Jiao Tong University(上海交通大学);Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences(上海量子科学研究中心);Hefei National Laboratory(合肥国家实验室);Shanghai XunTai Quantech Co., Ltd(上海迅泰量子科技有限公司)
We construct general schemes for multi-partite quantum secret sharing using multi-level systems, and find that the consistent conditions for valid measurements can be summarized in two simple algebraic conditions. The scheme using the very high dimensional mutually unbiased bases can in principle achieve perfect security against intercept-resend attack; and for the scheme using mutually biased bases, it reaches the optimal but non-perfect security at 4-level system. We also address the security issue against the general attacks in the context of our multi-level schemes. Especially, we propose …
We identify and study a new security loophole in continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) implementations, related to the imperfect linearity of the homodyne detector. By exploiting this loophole, we propose an active side-channel attack on the Gaussian-modulated coherent state CV-QKD protocol combining an intercept-resend attack with an induced saturation of the homodyne detection on the receiver side (Bob). We show that an attacker can bias the excess noise estimation by displacing the quadratures of the coherent states received by Bob. We propose a saturation model that matches…
Since several papers appeared in 2000, the quantum key distribution (QKD) community has been well aware that photon number splitting (PNS) attack by Eve severely limits the secure key distribution distance in BB84 QKD systems with Poissonian photon sources. In attempts to solve this problem, entanglement-based QKD, single-photon based QKD, and entanglement swapping-based QKD, have been studied in recent years. However, there are many technological difficulties that must be overcome before these schemes can become practical systems. Here we report a very simple QKD system, in which secure keys …