Secure Multifactor Remote Access User Authentication Framework for IoT Networks

The term IoT refers to the interconnection and exchange of data among devices/sensors. IoT devices are often small, low cost, and have limited resources. The IoT issues and challenges are growing increasingly. Security and privacy issues are among the most important concerns in IoT applications, such as smart buildings. Remote cybersecurity attacks are the attacks which do not require physical access to the IoT networks, where the attacker can remotely access and communicate with the IoT devices through a wireless communication channel. Thus, remote cybersecurity attacks are a significant threat. Emerging applications in smart environments such as smart buildings require remote access for both users and resources. Since the user/building communication channel is insecure, a lightweight and secure authentication protocol is required. In this paper, we propose a new secure remote user mutual authentication protocol based on transitory identities and multi-factor authentication for IoT smart building environment. The protocol ensures that only legitimate users can authenticate with smart building controllers in an anonymous, unlinkable, and untraceable manner. The protocol also avoids clock synchronization problem and can resist quantum computing attacks. The security of the protocol is evaluated using two different methods: (1) informal analysis; (2) model check using the automated validation of internet security protocols and applications (AVISPA) toolkit. The communication overhead and computational cost of the proposed are analyzed. The security and performance analysis show that our protocol is secure and efficient.     

Quantum Secure Direct Communication Protocol with Mutual Authentication Based on Single Photons and Bell States

Quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) can transmit secret messages directly from one user to another without first establishing a shared secret key, which is different from quantum key distribution. In this paper, we propose a novel quantum secure direct communication protocol based on signal photons and Bell states. Before the execution of the proposed protocol, two participants Alice and Bob exchange their corresponding identity IDA and IDB through quantum key distribution and keep them secret, respectively. Then the message sender, Alice, encodes each secret message bit into two single photons (| 01〉or|10〉) or a Bell state , and composes an ordered secret message sequence. To insure the security of communication, Alice also prepares the decoy photons and inserts them into secret message sequence on the basis of the values of IDA and IDB. By the secret identity IDA and IDB, both sides of the communication can check eavesdropping and identify each other. The proposed protocol not only completes secure direct communication, but also realizes the mutual authentication. The security analysis of the proposed protocol is presented in the paper. The analysis results show that this protocol is secure against some common attacks, and no secret message leaks even if the messages are broken. Compared with the two-way QSDC protocols, the presented protocol is a one-way quantum communication protocol which has the immunity to Trojan horse attack. Furthermore, our proposed protocol can be realized without quantum memory.     

A Novel Quantum Stegonagraphy Based on Brown States

In this paper, a novel quantum steganography protocol based on Brown entangled states is proposed. The new protocol adopts the CNOT operation to achieve the transmission of secret information by the best use of the characteristics of entangled states. Comparing with the previous quantum steganography algorithms, the new protocol focuses on its anti-noise capability for the phase-flip noise, which proved its good security resisting on quantum noise. Furthermore, the covert communication of secret information in the quantum secure direct communication channel would not affect the normal information transmission process due to the new protocol’s good imperceptibility. If the number of Brown states transmitted in carrier protocol is many enough, the imperceptibility of the secret channel can be further enhanced. In aspect of capacity, the new protocol can further expand its capacity by combining with other quantum steganography protocols. Due to that the proposed protocol does not require the participation of the classic channel when it implements the transmission of secret information, any additional information leakage will not be caused for the new algorithm with good security. The detailed theoretical analysis proves that the new protocol can own good performance on imperceptibility, capacity and security.     

Optical protocol for quantum state sharing of superposed coherent state

We propose an optical protocol for quantum state sharing of superposed coherent state in terms optical elements. Our protocol can realize a near-complete quantum state sharing of a superposed coherent state with arbitrary coeficients. The realization of this protocol is appealing due to the fact that the quantum state of light is robust against the decoherence and photons are ideal carriers for transmitting quantum information over long distances. This protocol can also be generalized to the multiparty system.     

Lattice-Based Authentication Scheme to Prevent Quantum Attack in Public Cloud Environment

Public cloud computing provides a variety of services to consumers via high-speed internet. The consumer can access these services anytime and anywhere on a balanced service cost. Many traditional authentication protocols are proposed to secure public cloud computing. However, the rapid development of high-speed internet and organizations’ race to develop quantum computers is a nightmare for existing authentication schemes. These traditional authentication protocols are based on factorization or discrete logarithm problems. As a result, traditional authentication protocols are vulnerable in the quantum computing era. Therefore, in this article, we have proposed an authentication protocol based on the lattice technique for public cloud computing to resist quantum attacks and prevent all known traditional security attacks. The proposed lattice-based authentication protocol is provably secure under the Real-Or-Random (ROR) model. At the same time, the result obtained during the experiments proved that our protocol is lightweight compared to the existing lattice-based authentication protocols, as listed in the performance analysis section. The comparative analysis shows that the protocol is suitable for practical implementation in a quantum-based environment.     

Analysis and Improvement of an Efficient Controlled Quantum Secure Direct Communication and Authentication Protocol

The controlled quantum secure direct communication (CQSDC) with authentication protocol based on four particle cluster states via quantum one-time pad and local unitary operations is cryptanalyzed. It is found that there are some serious security issues in this protocol. An eavesdropper (Eve) can eavesdrop on some information of the identity strings of the receiver and the controller without being detected by the selective-CNOT-operation (SCNO) attack. By the same attack, Eve can also steal some information of the secret message that the sender transmits. In addition, the receiver can take the same kind of attack to eavesdrop on some information of the secret message out of the control of the controller. This means that the requirements of CQSDC are not satisfied. At last, we improve the original CQSDC protocol to a secure one.     

Controlled Secure Direct Communication Protocol via the Three-Qubit Partially Entangled Set of States

In this paper, we first re-examine the previous protocol of controlled quantum secure direct communication of Zhang et al.’s scheme, which was found insecure under two kinds of attacks, fake entangled particles attack and disentanglement attack. Then, by changing the party of the preparation of cluster states and using unitary operations, we present an improved protocol which can avoid these two kinds of attacks. Moreover, the protocol is proposed using the three-qubit partially entangled set of states. It is more efficient by only using three particles rather than four or even more to transmit one bit secret information. Given our using state is much easier to prepare for multiqubit states and our protocol needs less measurement resource, it makes this protocol more convenient from an applied point of view.     

Implementing a non-local xor function with quantum communication

The or-exclusive function (xor) is one of the most important logical functions, and can be used in several protocols and algorithms, as encryption and error correction. This paper discusses several ways to implement the xor function, in a secure way using quantum communication, between users of a network. It is shown how to implement it using bipartite, tripartite and four-partite maximally entangled states, as well using an optical interferometer and strongly attenuated coherent states. Some protocols for secure communication using the xor, as quantum key distribution, are also proposed.     

Rational Non-Hierarchical Quantum State Sharing Protocol

Rational participants want to maximize their benefits. The protocol with rational participants will be more realistic than the protocol with honest, semi-honest and dishonest participants. We research the rational non-hierarchical quantum state sharing in this paper. General steps of some known quantum state sharing protocol are summarized. Based on these steps, a new rational protocol is proposed. It means that lots of common protocols could be modified to rational protocols. Our protocol is widely applicable. Analyses show that the proposed protocol is rational and secure. It is also all-win for agents. Furthermore, number of deceiving agents is considered to redefine the utilities of agents.     

A Controlled Quantum Dialogue Protocol Based on Quantum Walks

In order to enable two parties to exchange their secret information equally, we propose a controlled quantum dialogue protocol based on quantum walks, which implements the equal exchange of secret information between the two parties with the help of the controller TP. The secret information is transmitted via quantum walks, by using this method, the previously required entangled particles do not need to be prepared in the initial phase, and the entangled particles can be produced spontaneously via quantum walks. Furthermore, to resist TP’s dishonest behavior, we use a hash function to verify the correctness of the secret information. The protocol analysis shows that it is safe and reliable facing some attacks, including intercept-measure-resend attack, entanglement attack, dishonest controller’s attack and participant attack. And has a slightly increasing efficiency comparing with the previous protocols. Note that the proposed protocol may be feasible because quantum walks prove to be implemented in different physical systems and experiments.     

Measurement Device Independent Quantum Key Distribution Based on Orbital Angular Momentum under Parametric Light Source

On the one hand, existing measurement device independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocols have usually adopted single photon source (SPS) and weak coherent photon (WCP), however, these protocols have suffered from multi-photon problem brought from photon splitter number attacks. On the other hand, the orbital angular momentum (OAM)-MDI-QKD protocol does not need to compare and adjust the reference frame, solving the dependency of the base in the MDI-QKD protocol. Given that, we propose the OAM-MDI-QKD protocol based on the parametric light sources which mainly include single-photon-added-coherent (SPACS) and heralded single-photon sources (HSPS). Due to the stability of OAM and the participation of parametric light sources, the performance of MDI-QKD protocol gradually approaches the ideal situation. Numerical simulation shows that compared with WCP scheme, HSPS and SPACS schemes have increased the maximum secure transmission distance by 30 km and 40 km respectively.     

An Efficient Quantum Key Distribution Protocol with Dense Coding on Single Photons

Combined with the dense coding mechanism and the bias-BB84 protocol, an efficient quantum key distribution protocol with dense coding on single photons (QDKD-SP) is proposed. Compared with the BB84 or bias-BB84 protocols based on single photons, our QDKD-SP protocol has a higher capacity without increasing the difficulty of its experiment implementation as each correlated photon can carry two bits of useful information. Compared with the quantum dense key distribution (QDKD) protocol based on entangled states, our protocol is more feasible as the preparation and the measurement of a single-photon quantum state is not difficult with current technology. In addition, our QDKD-SP protocol is theoretically proved to be secure against the intercept-resend attack.     

Towards Fully Secure 5G Ultra-Low Latency Communications: ACost-Security Functions Analysis

Future components to enhance the basic, native security of 5G networks are either complex mechanisms whose impact in the requiring 5G communications are not considered, or lightweight solutions adapted to ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) but whose security properties remain under discussion. Although different 5G network slices may have different requirements, in general, both visions seem to fall short at provisioning secure URLLC in the future. In this work we address this challenge, by introducing cost-security functions as a method to evaluate the performance and adequacy of most developed and employed non-native enhanced security mechanisms in 5G networks. We categorize those new security components into different groups according to their purpose and deployment scope. We propose to analyze them in the context of existing 5G architectures using two different approaches. First, using model checking techniques, we will evaluate the probability of an attacker to be successful against each security solution. Second, using analytical models, we will analyze the impact of these security mechanisms in terms of delay, throughput consumption, and reliability. Finally, we will combine both approaches using stochastic cost-security functions and the PRISM model checker to create a global picture. Our results are first evidence of how a 5G network that covers and strengthened all security areas through enhanced, dedicated non-native mechanisms could only guarantee secure URLLC with a probability of ∼55%.     

Link stability and mobility in ad hoc wireless networks

The fact that ad hoc networks are required to support mobility of individual network nodes results in problems arising when routing data. These problems include route loss, poor longevity of established routes and asymmetric communications links. Mobility of nodes also increases the control traffic overhead and affects the performance of the protocol. Mobility can, however, be exploited to improve route longevity when establishing the route. In some situations, the source of information is not available (e.g. GPS information in the underground), hence protocols relying on this information will fail to operate correctly. In such situations, alternative `self-content' information should be available to perform the needed task of routing. Three novel schemes that make use of such information, the heading direction angle, to provide a mechanism for establishing and maintaining robust and long-lived routes are presented. The results show that these schemes reduce the overhead and increase the route longevity when compared with the AODV protocol. The schemes described can operate as a standalone mechanism or can be adopted by other routing protocols in order to improve their performance.     

Improved Multi-party Quantum Key Agreement with Four-qubit Cluster States

Quantum key agreement is a promising key establishing protocol that can play a significant role in securing 5G/6G communication networks. Recently, Liu et al. (Quantum Information Processing 18(8):1-10, 2019) proposed a multi-party quantum key agreement protocol based on four-qubit cluster states was proposed. The aim of their protocol is to agree on a shared secret key among multiple remote participants. Liu et al. employed four-qubit cluster states to be the quantum resources and the X operation to securely share a secret key. In addition, Liu et al.'s protocol guarantees that each participant makes an equal contribution to the final key. The authors also claimed that the proposed protocol is secure against participant attack and dishonest participants cannot generate the final shared key alone. However, we show here that Liu et al. protocol is insecure against a collusive attack, where dishonest participants can retrieve the private inputs of a trustworthy participant without being caught. Additionally, the corresponding modifications are presented to address these security flaws in Liu et al.'s protocol.     

A general method of controlled bidirectional quantum teleportation of qudit state

Based on tensor representation and d-dimensional Bell basis measurements, we obtained a necessary condition for realizing controlled bidirectional quantum teleportation of qudit states. To verify its theoretical feasibility, we further give a general and simple method of selecting quantum channels for teleporting the ququart state.     

Distributed automata in an assumption-commitment framework

We propose a class of finite state systems of synchronizing distributed processes, where processes make assumptions at local states about the state of other processes in the system. This constrains the global states of the system to those where assumptions made by a process about another are compatible with the commitments offered by the other at that state. We model examples like reliable bit transmission and sequence transmission protocols in this framework and discuss how assumption-commitment structure facilitates compositional design of such protocols. We prove a decomposition theorem which states that every protocol specified globally as a finite state system can be decomposed into such an assumption compatible system. We also present a syntactic characterization of this class using top level parallel composition. The main results here were first reported in an earlier paper (Mohalik & Ramanujam 1998). We thank the anonymous reviewers for detailed comments that helped to improve the presentation     

Efficient preparation of Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state and W state of atoms with the help of the controlled phase flip gates in quantum nodes connected by collective-noise channels

Noise plays a troublesome role for entanglement generation, because the polarization entanglement of photons can be easily disturbed by the noise. In this paper, we propose a protocol to prepare Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state and W state of atoms in quantum nodes connected by collective-noise channels assisted by quantum nondemolition detectors (QNDs) and the controlled phase flip gates. The frequency degrees of freedom are exploited in our protocol. The successful probability of our protocol can reach 100% neglecting the photon loss and assuming that the efficiency of QNDs is 1. Moreover, the number of times of using QNDs is limited, and this makes the protocol quite effective when collective noise is small.     

Post-Quantum Blockchain over Lattice

Blockchain is an emerging decentralized architecture and distributed computing paradigm underlying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and has recently attracted intensive attention from governments, financial institutions, high-tech enterprises, and the capital markets. Its cryptographic security relies on asymmetric cryptography, such as ECC, RSA. However, with the surprising development of quantum technology, asymmetric cryptography schemes mentioned above would become vulnerable. Recently, lattice-based cryptography scheme was proposed to be secure against attacks in the quantum era. In 2018, with the aid of Bonsai Trees technology, Yin et al. [Yin, Wen, Li et al. (2018)] proposed a lattice-based authentication method which can extend a lattice space to multiple lattice spaces accompanied by the corresponding key. Although their scheme has theoretical significance, it is unpractical in actual situation due to extremely large key size and signature size. In this paper, aiming at tackling the critical issue of transaction size, we propose a post quantum blockchain over lattice. By using SampleMat and signature without trapdoor, we can reduce the key size and signature size of our transaction authentication approach by a significant amount. Instead of using a whole set of vectors as a basis, we can use only one vector and rotate it enough times to form a basis. Based on the hardness assumption of Short Integer Solution (SIS), we demonstrate that the proposed anti-quantum transaction authentication scheme over lattice provides existential unforgeability against adaptive chosen-message attacks in the random oracle. As compared to the Yin et al. [Yin, Wen, Li et al. (2018)] scheme, our scheme has better performance in terms of energy consumption, signature size and signing key size. As the underlying lattice problem is intractable even for quantum computers, our scheme would work well in the quantum age.     

Social-Aware Based Secure Relay Selection in Relay-Assisted D2D Communications

Relay-assisted transmission could effectively enhance the performance of Device-to-Device (D2D) communications when D2D user equipments (UEs) are too far away from each other or the quality of D2D channel is not good enough for direct communications. Meanwhile, security is one of the major concerns for proximity services. The secure relay selection problem for D2D communications underlaying cellular network is studied in this paper. Firstly, we define a relay selection area and derive the closed-form of outage probability in D2D links using a Poisson Point Process (PPP) method. Next, in the defined relay selection area, we propose a secure relay selection scheme for the relay-assisted D2D communication system by exploiting the social relation as a security factor. Simulation results show that the scheme based on social relation can greatly improve the security performance of relay-assisted D2D communications.