Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1106.2754 · AIP conference proceedings

Double blinding-attack on entanglement-based quantum key distribution protocols

Guillaume Adenier, Masanori Ohya, Noboru Watanabe, Irina Basieva, Andrei Yu. Khrennikov

Published Jan 1, 2012• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose a double blinding-attack on entangled-based quantum key distribution protocols. The principle of the attack is the same as in existing blinding attack except that instead of blinding the detectors on one side only, Eve is blinding the detectors of both Alice and Bob. In the BBM92 protocol, the attack allows Eve to get a full knowledge of the key and remain undetected even if Alice and Bob are using 100% efficient detectors. The attack can be easily extended to Ekert protocol, with an efficiency as high as 85.3%.

DOI
10.1063/1.3688946

Related papers

MULTIPLE-PHOTON ABSORPTION ATTACK ON ENTANGLEMENT-BASED QUANTUM KEY DISTRIBUTION PROTOCOLS

Guillaume Adenier, N. WATANABE, Irina Basieva +1 more

In elaborating on the multiple-photon absorption attack on Ekert protocol proposed in arXiv:1011.4740, we show that it can be used in other entanglement-based protocols, in particular the BBM92 protocol. In this attack, the eavesdropper (Eve) is assumed to be in control of the source, and she sends pulses correlated in polarization (but not entangled) containing several photons at frequencies for which only multiple-photon absorptions are possible in Alice's and Bob's detectors. Whenever the photons stemming from one pulse are dispatched in such a way that the number of photons is insufficient to trigger a multiple-photon absorption in either channel, the pulse remains undetected. We show that this simple feature is enough to reproduce the type of statistics on the detected pulses that are considered as indicating a secure quantum key distribution, even though the source is actually a mixture of separable states. The violation of Bell inequalities measured by Alice and Bob increases with the order of the multiple-photon absorption that Eve can drive into their detectors, while the measured quantum bit error rate decreases as a function of the same variable. We show that the attack can be successful even in the simplest case of a two-photon absorption or three-photon absorption attack, and we discuss possible countermeasures, in particular the use of a fair sampling test.

arXiv:1102.3366•QP-PQ, quantum probability and white noise analysis•Mar 1, 2013•0 citations

Feasible attack on detector-device-independent quantum key distribution

Kejin Wei, Hongwei Liu, Haiqiang Ma +5 more

Recently, to bridge the gap between security of Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) and a high key rate, a novel protocol, the so-called detector-device-independent QKD (DDI-QKD), has been independently proposed by several groups and has attracted great interest. A higher key rate is obtained, since a single photon bell state measurement (BSM) setup is applied to DDI-QKD. Subsequently, Qi has proposed two attacks for this protocol. However, the first attack, in which Bob's BSM setup is assumed to be completely a "black box", is easily prevented by using some additional monitoring devices or by specifically characterizing the BSM. The second attack, which combines the blinding attack and the detector wavelength-dependent efficiency, is not explicitly discussed, and its feasibility is not experimentally confirmed. Here, we show that the second attack is not technically viable because of an intrinsically wavelength-dependent property of a realistic beam splitter, which is an essential component in DDI-QKD. Moreover, we propose a feasible attack that combines a well-known attack-detector blinding attack with intrinsic imperfections of single-photon detectors. The experimental measurement and proof-of-principle test results confirm that our attack can allow Eve to get a copy of quantum keys without being detected and that it is feasible with current technology.

Scientific Reports•Mar 21, 2017•18 citations

Eavesdropping on Blind Quantum Key Distribution through a Labeling Attack

Marco Lucamarini

I present an eavesdropping on the protocol proposed by W.-H. Kye, et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 040501 (2005)]. I show how an undetectable Eve can steal the whole information by labeling and then measuring the photons prepared by the user Alice.

arXiv:quant-ph/0511072•Nov 8, 2005•0 citations

Countermeasure against probabilistic blinding attack in practical quantum key distribution systems

钱泳君, 李宏伟, 何德勇 +5 more

In a practical quantum key distribution(QKD) system, imperfect equipment, especially the single-photon detector,can be eavesdropped on by a blinding attack. However, the original blinding attack may be discovered by directly detecting the current. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic blinding attack model, where Eve probabilistically applies a blinding attack without being caught by using only an existing intuitive countermeasure. More precisely, our countermeasure solves the problem of how to define the bound in the limitation of precision of current detection, and then we prove security of the practical system by considering the current parameter. Meanwhile, we discuss the bound of the quantum bit error rate(QBER) introduced by Eve, by which Eve can acquire information without the countermeasure.

中国物理B：英文版•Jan 1, 2015•0 citations

Dense-Coding Attack on Three-Party Quantum Key Distribution Protocols

Fei Gao, Su-Juan Qin, Fen-Zhuo Guo +1 more

Cryptanalysis is an important branch in the study of cryptography, including both the classical cryptography and the quantum one. In this paper we analyze the security of two three-party quantum key distribution protocols (QKDPs) proposed recently, and point out that they are susceptible to a simple and effective attack, i.e., the dense-coding attack. It is shown that the eavesdropper Eve can totally obtain the session key by sending entangled qubits as the fake signal to Alice and performing collective measurements after Alice's encoding. The attack process is just like a dense-coding communication between Eve and Alice, where a special measurement basis is employed. Furthermore, this attack does not introduce any errors to the transmitted information and consequently will not be discovered by Alice and Bob. The attack strategy is described in detail and a proof for its correctness is given. Finally, the root cause of this insecurity and a possible way to improve these protocols are discussed.

arXiv:1009.2545•IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics•Mar 29, 2011•100 citations

Dense-coding attack on three-Party quantum key distribution protocols

Fei Gao, Su-juan Qin, Fen-zhuo Guo +1 more

Cryptanalysis is an important branch in the study of cryptography, including both the classical cryptography and the quantum one. In this paper we analyze the security of two three-party quantum key distribution protocols (QKDPs) proposed recently, and point out that they are susceptible to a simple and effective attack, i.e. the dense-coding attack. It is shown that the eavesdropper Eve can totally obtain the session key by sending entangled qubits as the fake signal to Alice and performing collective measurements after Alice's encoding. The attack process is just like a dense-coding communication between Eve and Alice, where a special measurement basis is employed. Furthermore, this attack does not introduce any errors to the transmitted information and consequently will not be discovered by Alice and Bob. The attack strategy is described in detail and a proof for its correctness is given. At last, the root of this insecurity and a possible way to improve these protocols are discussed.

•Jan 1, 2011•88 citations
We propose a double blinding-attack on entangled-based quantum key distribution protocols. The principle of the attack is the same as in existing blinding attack except that instead of blinding the detectors on one side only, Eve is blinding the detectors of both Alice and Bob. In the BBM92 protocol, the attack allows Eve to get a full knowledge of the key and remain undetected even if Alice and Bob are using 100% efficient detectors. The attack can be easily extended to Ekert protocol, with an efficiency as high as 85.3%.
In elaborating on the multiple-photon absorption attack on Ekert protocol proposed in arXiv:1011.4740, we show that it can be used in other entanglement-based protocols, in particular the BBM92 protocol. In this attack, the eavesdropper (Eve) is assumed to be in control of the source, and she sends pulses correlated in polarization (but not entangled) containing several photons at frequencies for which only multiple-photon absorptions are possible in Alice's and Bob's detectors. Whenever the photons stemming from one pulse are dispatched in such a way that the number of photons is insufficient to trigger a multiple-photon absorption in either channel, the pulse remains undetected. We show that this simple feature is enough to reproduce the type of statistics on the detected pulses that are considered as indicating a secure quantum key distribution, even though the source is actually a mixture of separable states. The violation of Bell inequalities measured by Alice and Bob increases with the order of the multiple-photon absorption that Eve can drive into their detectors, while the measured quantum bit error rate decreases as a function of the same variable. We show that the attack can be successful even in the simplest case of a two-photon absorption or three-photon absorption attack, and we discuss possible countermeasures, in particular the use of a fair sampling test.
Recently, to bridge the gap between security of Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) and a high key rate, a novel protocol, the so-called detector-device-independent QKD (DDI-QKD), has been independently proposed by several groups and has attracted great interest. A higher key rate is obtained, since a single photon bell state measurement (BSM) setup is applied to DDI-QKD. Subsequently, Qi has proposed two attacks for this protocol. However, the first attack, in which Bob's BSM setup is assumed to be completely a "black box", is easily prevented by using some additional monitoring devices or by specifically characterizing the BSM. The second attack, which combines the blinding attack and the detector wavelength-dependent efficiency, is not explicitly discussed, and its feasibility is not experimentally confirmed. Here, we show that the second attack is not technically viable because of an intrinsically wavelength-dependent property of a realistic beam splitter, which is an essential component in DDI-QKD. Moreover, we propose a feasible attack that combines a well-known attack-detector blinding attack with intrinsic imperfections of single-photon detectors. The experimental measurement and proof-of-principle test results confirm that our attack can allow Eve to get a copy of quantum keys without being detected and that it is feasible with current technology.
In a practical quantum key distribution(QKD) system, imperfect equipment, especially the single-photon detector,can be eavesdropped on by a blinding attack. However, the original blinding attack may be discovered by directly detecting the current. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic blinding attack model, where Eve probabilistically applies a blinding attack without being caught by using only an existing intuitive countermeasure. More precisely, our countermeasure solves the problem of how to define the bound in the limitation of precision of current detection, and then we prove security of the practical system by considering the current parameter. Meanwhile, we discuss the bound of the quantum bit error rate(QBER) introduced by Eve, by which Eve can acquire information without the countermeasure.
Cryptanalysis is an important branch in the study of cryptography, including both the classical cryptography and the quantum one. In this paper we analyze the security of two three-party quantum key distribution protocols (QKDPs) proposed recently, and point out that they are susceptible to a simple and effective attack, i.e., the dense-coding attack. It is shown that the eavesdropper Eve can totally obtain the session key by sending entangled qubits as the fake signal to Alice and performing collective measurements after Alice's encoding. The attack process is just like a dense-coding communication between Eve and Alice, where a special measurement basis is employed. Furthermore, this attack does not introduce any errors to the transmitted information and consequently will not be discovered by Alice and Bob. The attack strategy is described in detail and a proof for its correctness is given. Finally, the root cause of this insecurity and a possible way to improve these protocols are discussed.
Cryptanalysis is an important branch in the study of cryptography, including both the classical cryptography and the quantum one. In this paper we analyze the security of two three-party quantum key distribution protocols (QKDPs) proposed recently, and point out that they are susceptible to a simple and effective attack, i.e. the dense-coding attack. It is shown that the eavesdropper Eve can totally obtain the session key by sending entangled qubits as the fake signal to Alice and performing collective measurements after Alice's encoding. The attack process is just like a dense-coding communication between Eve and Alice, where a special measurement basis is employed. Furthermore, this attack does not introduce any errors to the transmitted information and consequently will not be discovered by Alice and Bob. The attack strategy is described in detail and a proof for its correctness is given. At last, the root of this insecurity and a possible way to improve these protocols are discussed.