We propose the use of intra-particle entanglement to enhance the security of a practical implementation of the Bennett-Brassard-1984 (BB84) quantum key distribution scheme. Intra-particle entanglement is an attractive resource since it can be easily generated using only linear optics. Security is studied under a simple model of incoherent attack for protocols involving two or all five mutually unbiased bases. In terms of efficiency of secret key generation and tolerable error rate, the latter is found to be superior to the former. We find that states that allow secrecy distillation are necessarily entangled, though they may be local. Since more powerful attacks by Eve obviously exist, our result implies that security is a strictly stronger condition than entanglement for these protocols.We propose the use of intra-particle entanglement to enhance the security of a practical implementation of the Bennett-Brassard-1984 (BB84) quantum key distribution scheme. Intra-particle entanglement is an attractive resource since it can be easily generated using only linear optics. Security is studied under a simple model of incoherent attack for protocols involving two or all five mutually unbiased bases. In terms of efficiency of secret key generation and tolerable error rate, the latter is found to be superior to the former. We find that states that allow secrecy distillation are necessarily entangled, though they may be local. Since more powerful attacks by Eve obviously exist, our result implies that security is a strictly stronger condition than entanglement for these protocols.

Jan 4, 20110 citations

Towards secure communication using intra-particle entanglement

Satyabrata Adhikari, Dipankar Home, A. S. Majumdar +3 more

We explore the use of the resource of intra-particle entanglement for secure quantum key distribution in the device-independent scenario. By virtue of the local nature of such entanglement, Bell tests must be implemented locally, which leads to a natural decoupling of device errors from channel errors. We consider a side channel attack on the sender's state preparation device, for which the intra-particle-entanglement based scheme is shown to be more secure than the one that uses separable states. Of practical relevance is the fact that such entanglement can be easily generated using linear optics.We explore the use of the resource of intra-particle entanglement for secure quantum key distribution in the device-independent scenario. By virtue of the local nature of such entanglement, Bell tests must be implemented locally, which leads to a natural decoupling of device errors from channel errors. We consider a side channel attack on the sender's state preparation device, for which the intra-particle-entanglement based scheme is shown to be more secure than the one that uses separable states. Of practical relevance is the fact that such entanglement can be easily generated using linear optics.

arXiv:1309.0656Sep 3, 20130 citations

Security of the Bennett-Brassard Quantum Key Distribution Protocol against Collective Attacks

Michel Boyer, Ran Gelles, Tal Mor

The theoretical Quantum Key-Distribution scheme of Bennett and Brassard (BB84) has been proven secure against very strong attacks including the collective attacks and the joint attacks. Though the latter are the most general attacks, collective attacks are much easier to analyze, yet, they are conjectured to be as informative to the eavesdropper. Thus, collective attacks are likely to be useful in the analysis of many theoretical and practical schemes that are still lacking a proof of security, including practical BB84 schemes. We show how powerful tools developed in previous works for proving security against the joint attack, are simplified when applied to the security of BB84 against collective attacks whilst providing the same bounds on leaked information and the same error threshold.The theoretical Quantum Key-Distribution scheme of Bennett and Brassard (BB84) has been proven secure against very strong attacks including the collective attacks and the joint attacks. Though the latter are the most general attacks, collective attacks are much easier to analyze, yet, they are conjectured to be as informative to the eavesdropper. Thus, collective attacks are likely to be useful in the analysis of many theoretical and practical schemes that are still lacking a proof of security, including practical BB84 schemes. We show how powerful tools developed in previous works for proving security against the joint attack, are simplified when applied to the security of BB84 against collective attacks whilst providing the same bounds on leaked information and the same error threshold.

AlgorithmsJun 3, 20095 citations

Entanglement-Enhanced Quantum Key Distribution

Olli Ahonen

Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows two spatially separated parties to securely generate a cryptographic key. The first QKD protocol, published by C. H. Bennett and G. Brassard in 1984 (BB84), describes how this is achieved by transmitting individual qubits and exchanging classical authenticated information. Any attempt to eavesdrop on the protocol introduces errors detectable by the legitimate parties. This Licentiate Thesis studies the recently introduced EEQKD protocol which builds on BB84. In EEQKD, the qubits sent individually in BB84 are entangled and thus not directly available to an eavesdropper who is, in this protocol, provided only one-by-one access to the transmission. The maximal information an eavesdropper can gain using a straightforward intercept-resend (IR) attack, is obtained for a given error rate. The secure key generation rate of EEQKD is estimated in practical scenarios including qubit loss and quantum channel noise. In addition, an exquisite vulnerability is exposed: For a particular setting of qubit entanglement, paradoxically proving most useful in the face of an IR attack, EEQKD reduces to BB84. Part of this research has been published in O. Ahonen et al., Physical Review A 78, 032314 (2008).Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows two spatially separated parties to securely generate a cryptographic key. The first QKD protocol, published by C. H. Bennett and G. Brassard in 1984 (BB84), describes how this is achieved by transmitting individual qubits and exchanging classical authenticated information. Any attempt to eavesdrop on the protocol introduces errors detectable by the legitimate parties. This Licentiate Thesis studies the recently introduced EEQKD protocol which builds on BB84. In EEQKD, the qubits sent individually in BB84 are entangled and thus not directly available to an eavesdropper who is, in this protocol, provided only one-by-one access to the transmission. The maximal information an eavesdropper can gain using a straightforward intercept-resend (IR) attack, is obtained for a given error rate. The secure key generation rate of EEQKD is estimated in practical scenarios including qubit loss and quantum channel noise. In addition, an exquisite vulnerability is exposed: For a particular setting of qubit entanglement, paradoxically proving most useful in the face of an IR attack, EEQKD reduces to BB84. Part of this research has been published in O. Ahonen et al., Physical Review A 78, 032314 (2008).

arXiv:0903.2117Mar 12, 20090 citations

Entanglement-enhanced quantum key distribution

Olli Ahonen, Mikko Möttönen, Jeremy L. O’Brien

We present and analyze a quantum key distribution protocol based on sending entangled $N$ -qubit states instead of single-qubit ones as in the trail-blazing scheme by Bennett and Brassard 1984 (BB84). Since the qubits are sent and acknowledged individually, an eavesdropper is limited to accessing them one by one. In an intercept-resend attack, this fundamental restriction allows one to make the eavesdropper's information on the transmitted key vanish if even one of the qubits is not intercepted. The implied upper bound $1∕(2N)$ for this information is further shown not to be the lowest, as the information can be reduced to less than 30% of that in the BB84 scheme in the case $N=2$ . In general, the protocol is at least as secure as BB84.We present and analyze a quantum key distribution protocol based on sending entangled $N$-qubit states instead of single-qubit ones as in the trail-blazing scheme by Bennett and Brassard 1984 (BB84). Since the qubits are sent and acknowledged individually, an eavesdropper is limited to accessing them one by one. In an intercept-resend attack, this fundamental restriction allows one to make the eavesdropper's information on the transmitted key vanish if even one of the qubits is not intercepted. The implied upper bound $1∕(2N)$ for this information is further shown not to be the lowest, as the information can be reduced to less than 30% of that in the BB84 scheme in the case $N=2$. In general, the protocol is at least as secure as BB84.

arXiv:0712.4241Physical Review ASep 11, 200826 citations

Device-independent cryptography using intra-particle entanglement

Satyabrata Adhikari, Dipankar Home, A. S. Majumdar +3 more

Poornaprajna Institute of Scienti c Research, Bangalore, India(Dated:)It is known that entanglement helps enhance security of practical quantum key distribution againstcertain classes of attacks that exploit aws in the devices. However, bipartite or multipartite en-tanglement itself is a costly resource. We point out how intra-particle entanglement, which is easilygenerated using linear optics, can be useful here, comparing and contrasting its usage with con-ventional, inter-particle entanglement. In particular, by virtue of its local nature, the amount ofBell-inequality violation in intraparticle entanglement must be measured locally. This, in turn, helpsdecouple device errors from channel errors in a natural way. The amount of Bell-inequality violationobserved by Alice determines the error that can be tolerated in the channel. We illustrate theseideas by means of a simple incoherent attack on the channel, augmented by a side channel attackon the devices used.Poornaprajna Institute of Scienti c Research, Bangalore, India(Dated:)It is known that entanglement helps enhance security of practical quantum key distribution againstcertain classes of attacks that exploit aws in the devices. However, bipartite or multipartite en-tanglement itself is a costly resource. We point out how intra-particle entanglement, which is easilygenerated using linear optics, can be useful here, comparing and contrasting its usage with con-ventional, inter-particle entanglement. In particular, by virtue of its local nature, the amount ofBell-inequality violation in intraparticle entanglement must be measured locally. This, in turn, helpsdecouple device errors from channel errors in a natural way. The amount of Bell-inequality violationobserved by Alice determines the error that can be tolerated in the channel. We illustrate theseideas by means of a simple incoherent attack on the channel, augmented by a side channel attackon the devices used.

Sep 3, 20131 citation

We present and analyze a quantum key distribution protocol based on sending entangled

N

-qubit states instead of single-qubit ones as in the trail-blazing scheme by Bennett and Brassard 1984 (BB84). Since the qubits are sent and acknowledged individually, an eavesdropper is limited to accessing them one by one. In an intercept-resend attack, this fundamental restriction allows one to make the eavesdropper's information on the transmitted key vanish if even one of the qubits is not intercepted. The implied upper bound

1∕(2N)

for this information is further shown not to be the lowest, as the information can be reduced to less than 30% of that in the BB84 scheme in the case

N=2

. In general, the protocol is at least as secure as BB84.