Analysis of measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution under asymmetric channel transmittance efficiency

Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) is immune to all the detection attacks. Based on decoy-state method, MDI-QKD can be implemented with nonperfect single-photon sources. In this paper, the performance of three-intensity decoy-state MDI-QKD under asymmetric channel transmittance efficiency is considered and compared with the results under the symmetric choice scenario. The relation between security key generation rate and the total transmission loss is shown with exchanged ratio of the two distances between Alice to the untrusted third party and Bob to the third party. Based on the relationship, an optimal intensity method is proposed to improve the key rate for a fixed distance ratio, which will provide important parameters for practical experiment.     

Simulation of quantum key distribution in a secure star topology optimization in quantum channel

The field of quantum cryptography is mostly theoretical therefore in this paper we represent its implementation by means of virtual scenarios. The central issue in cryptography is the secure transmission of the key between nodes. Thus, in this paper we establish a secure channel using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) for the transfer of the key material between the nodes and help to identify an eavesdropper in the channel. A graphical representation of the quantum channel traffic at the ideal state and also during network disruption has been established. Due to the complex nature of quantum networks and high cost of establishment, a physical implementation of the same is not feasible. Hence a simulation has been implemented via the use of NS-3 (Network Simulator Version 3) which has QKDNetSim module built into it. Finally, our simulation indicates the presence of an intruder by virtue of various network implementations within the quantum channel.     

First-order side channel attacks on Zhang’s countermeasures

Zhang’s three countermeasures are known to be secure against certain first-order side channel attacks such as differential power analysis and correlation power analysis. This security comes from the countermeasures’ use of random points to blind the message and random integers to blind the secret scalar. In this paper, we propose first-order side channel attack methods that can perfectly break these three countermeasures. Even though Zhang’s countermeasures use random points and random integers our attacks are made possible by the fact that intermediate values computed by these countermeasures are dependent on specific values that we can guess. The experimental results verify that the proposed attack methods can successfully break existing countermeasures.     

Restricted attacks on semi-quantum key distribution protocols

In this paper, we investigate single-state, semi-quantum key distribution protocols. These are protocols whereby one party is limited to measuring only in the computational basis, while the other, though capable of measuring in both computational and Hadamard bases, is limited to preparing and sending only a single, publicly known qubit state. Such protocols rely necessarily on a two-way quantum communication channel making their security analysis difficult. However, we will show that, for single-state protocols, we need only consider a restricted attack operation by Eve. We will also describe a new single-state protocol that permits “reflections” to carry information and use our results concerning restricted attacks to show its robustness.     

Multi-party quantum key agreement protocol secure against collusion attacks

The fairness of a secure multi-party quantum key agreement (MQKA) protocol requires that all involved parties are entirely peer entities and can equally influence the outcome of the protocol to establish a shared key wherein no one can decide the shared key alone. However, it is found that parts of the existing MQKA protocols are sensitive to collusion attacks, i.e., some of the dishonest participants can collaborate to predetermine the final key without being detected. In this paper, a multi-party QKA protocol resisting collusion attacks is proposed. Different from previous QKA protocol resisting \(N-1\) coconspirators or resisting 1 coconspirators, we investigate the general circle-type MQKA protocol which can be secure against t dishonest participants’ cooperation. Here, \(t < N\). We hope the results of the presented paper will be helpful for further research on fair MQKA protocols.     

Fault-tolerant high-capacity quantum key distribution over a collective-noise channel using extended unitary operations

We propose two fault-tolerant high-capacity quantum key distribution schemes, in which an entangled pair over a collective-noise channel consisting of one logical qubit and one physical qubit can carry four bits of key information. The basic idea is to use 2-extended unitary operations from collective noises together with quantum dense coding. The key messages are encoded on logical qubits of two physical qubits with sixteen 2-extended unitary operations based on collective noises. The key can be recovered using Bell-state analysis on the logical qubit and a single-photon measurement on the physical qubit rather than three-qubit GHZ joint measurements. The proposed protocols require a collation table to be shared between Alice and Bob in advance. Consequently, the key messages carried by an entangled state, in our protocol, have doubled at the price of sharing the collation table between Alice and Bob. However, the efficiency of qubits is enhanced because a quantum bit is more expensive to prepare than a classical bit.     

Upconversion-based receivers for quantum hacking-resistant quantum key distribution

We propose a novel upconversion (sum frequency generation)-based quantum-optical system design that can be employed as a receiver (Bob) in practical quantum key distribution systems. The pump governing the upconversion process is produced and utilized inside the physical receiver, making its access or control unrealistic for an external adversary (Eve). This pump facilitates several properties which permit Bob to define and control the modes that can participate in the quantum measurement. Furthermore, by manipulating and monitoring the characteristics of the pump pulses, Bob can detect a wide range of quantum hacking attacks launched by Eve.     

基于旁路攻击的AES算法中间变量脆弱点

介绍了针对AES算法的旁路攻击过程, 指出了可行的SPA、DPA以及HDPA攻击方法, 在此基础上, 指出了AES算法面对旁路功耗攻击的脆弱点。其过程是：根据AES算法的实现流程, 查找出可能产生的中间变量, 通过对中间变量的分析, 将潜在的可以被旁路功耗攻击利用的中间变量定义为脆弱点。进一步指出了旁路功耗攻击是利用了AES算法实现过程中数据与密钥的相关性、时钟频率的可测性以及不同指令执行时功耗的差异性来攻破AES算法的。     

侧信道攻击仿真平台的设计与实现方法

针对侧信道攻击需要相应的侧信道仿真工具支持的特点,提出一种侧信道攻击仿真环境的设计方案,并侧重分析了该仿真平台的实现技术.该平台将侧信道泄露的仿真实现和分析实现相分离,采用构件技术对其进行封装,具有较强的灵活性.不同的侧信道泄漏信息以及攻击策略都能以构件的形式加入到平台中,使得测试人员可以根据测试需求灵活地选择测试数据和分析策略.在案例分析中,以分组长度为64比特的DES密码算法为测试对象,分别给出真实环境下测量出的功耗曲线和使用仿真平台所得到的功耗曲线.     

New scheme for measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

We propose a new scheme for measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) with a two-mode state source. In this scheme, the trigger state is split into different paths and detected at both senders; thus, four types of detection events can be obtained. Based on these events, the signal state is divided into four non-empty sets that can be used for parameter estimation and key extraction. Additionally, we carry out a performance analysis on the scheme with two-intensity (vacuum state and signal state) heralded single-photon sources. We also numerically study the statistical fluctuation in the actual system. Our simulations show that the error rate and the secure transmission distance of our two-intensity scheme are better than those of existing three- and four-intensity MDI-QKD schemes with different light sources. Considering statistical fluctuations, the maximum secure distance of our scheme can reach 344 km when the data length is 10¹³ and remains as long as 250 km when the data length is 10¹⁰. Moreover, our scheme improves the system performance and reduces the challenges of implementing the system.     

Differential phase encoded measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

Quantum Information Processing - By employing Pauli measurements, we present some nonlinear steering criteria applicable for arbitrary two-qubit quantum systems and optimized ones for symmetric...     

基于纠缠的量子密钥分配协议仿真

由于受物理资源和实验条件的限制,在经典计算机上对量子密钥分配（QKD）仿真,为研究者提供一种手段以便更好地掌握这类抽象协议。对以纠缠态为基础的E91协议的量子密钥分配过程进行仿真,重点对比分析了理想环境、有噪环境以及窃听环境下的仿真结果,并验证该量子密钥分配协议的安全性。     

Two-party quantum key agreement protocols under collective noise channel

Recently, quantum communication has become a very popular research field. The quantum key agreement (QKA) plays an important role in the field of quantum communication, based on its unconditional security in terms of theory. Among all kinds of QKA protocols, QKA protocols resisting collective noise are widely being studied. In this paper, we propose improved two-party QKA protocols resisting collective noise and present a feasible plan for information reconciliation. Our protocols’ qubit efficiency has achieved 26.67%, which is the best among all the two-party QKA protocols against collective noise, thus showing that our protocol can improve the transmission efficiency of quantum key agreement.     

Composable security of unidimensional continuous-variable quantum key distribution

We investigate the composable security of unidimensional continuous-variable quantum key distribution (UCVQKD) protocol in generally phase-sensitive channel; the UCVQKD protocol is based on the Gaussian modulation of a single quadrature of the coherent state of light, aiming to provide a simple implementation of key distribution compared to the symmetrically modulated Gaussian coherent-state protocols. This protocol neglects the necessity in one of the quadrature modulations in coherent states and hence reduces the system complexity. To clarify the influence of finite-size effect and the cost of performance degeneration, we establish the relationship of the balanced parameters of the unmodulated quadrature and estimate the precise secure region. Subsequently, we illustrate the composable security of the UCVQKD protocol against collective attacks and achieve the tightest bound of the UCVQKD protocol. Numerical simulations show the asymptotic secret key rate of the UCVQKD protocol, together with the symmetrically modulated Gaussian coherent-state protocols.     

Fundamental finite key limits for one-way information reconciliation in quantum key distribution

The security of quantum key distribution protocols is guaranteed by the laws of quantum mechanics. However, a precise analysis of the security properties requires tools from both classical cryptography and information theory. Here, we employ recent results in non-asymptotic classical information theory to show that one-way information reconciliation imposes fundamental limitations on the amount of secret key that can be extracted in the finite key regime. In particular, we find that an often used approximation for the information leakage during information reconciliation is not generally valid. We propose an improved approximation that takes into account finite key effects and numerically test it against codes for two probability distributions, that we call binary–binary and binary–Gaussian, that typically appear in quantum key distribution protocols.     

High-capacity quantum key distribution using Chebyshev-map values corresponding to Lucas numbers coding

We propose an approach that achieves high-capacity quantum key distribution using Chebyshev-map values corresponding to Lucas numbers coding. In particular, we encode a key with the Chebyshev-map values corresponding to Lucas numbers and then use k-Chebyshev maps to achieve consecutive and flexible key expansion and apply the pre-shared classical information between Alice and Bob and fountain codes for privacy amplification to solve the security of the exchange of classical information via the classical channel. Consequently, our high-capacity protocol does not have the limitations imposed by orbital angular momentum and down-conversion bandwidths, and it meets the requirements for longer distances and lower error rates simultaneously.     

Recurrent neural network approach to quantum signal: coherent state restoration for continuous-variable quantum key distribution

In continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD), weak signal carrying information transmits from Alice to Bob; during this process it is easily influenced by unknown noise which reduces signal-to-noise ratio, and strongly impacts reliability and stability of the communication. Recurrent quantum neural network (RQNN) is an artificial neural network model which can perform stochastic filtering without any prior knowledge of the signal and noise. In this paper, a modified RQNN algorithm with expectation maximization algorithm is proposed to process the signal in CV-QKD, which follows the basic rule of quantum mechanics. After RQNN, noise power decreases about 15 dBm, coherent signal recognition rate of RQNN is 96%, quantum bit error rate (QBER) drops to 4%, which is 6.9% lower than original QBER, and channel capacity is notably enlarged.     

Training a neural-network based intrusion detector to recognizenovel attacks

While many commercial intrusion detection systems (IDS) are deployed, the protection they afford is modest. State-of-the-art IDS produce voluminous alerts, most false alarms, and function mainly by recognizing the signatures of known attacks so that novel attacks slip past them. Attempts have been made to create systems that recognize the signature of “normal,” in the hope that they will then detect attacks, known or novel. These systems are often confounded by the extreme variability of nominal behavior. The paper describes an experiment with an IDS composed of a hierarchy of neural networks (NN) that functions as a true anomaly detector. This result is achieved by monitoring selected areas of network behavior, such as protocols, that are predictable in advance. While this does not cover the entire attack space, a considerable number of attacks are carried out by violating the expectations of the protocol/operating system designer. Within this focus, the NNs are trained using data that spans the entire normal space. These detectors are able to recognize attacks that were not specifically presented during training. We show that using small detectors in a hierarchy gives a better result than a single large detector. Some techniques can be used not only to detect anomalies, but to distinguish among them     

Improved statistical fluctuation analysis for measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) is a promising protocol for realizing long-distance secret keys sharing. However, its key rate is relatively low when the finite-size effect is taken into account. In this paper, we consider statistical fluctuation analysis for the three-intensity decoy-state MDI-QKD system based on the recent work (Zhang et al. in Phys Rev A 95:012333, 2017) and further compare its performance with that of applying the Gaussian approximation technique and the Chernoff bound method. The numerical simulations demonstrate that the new method has apparent enhancement both in key generation rate and transmission distance than using Chernoff bound method. Meanwhile, the present work still shows much higher security than Gaussian approximation analysis.