Full quantum capability devices can provide secure communications, but they are challenging to make portable given the current technology. Besides, classical portable devices are unable to construct communication channels resistant to quantum computers. Hence, communication security on portable devices cannot be guaranteed. Semi-Quantum Communication (SQC) attempts to break the quandary by lowering the receiver's required quantum capability so that secure communications can be implemented on a portable device. However, all SQC protocols have low qubit efficiency and complex hardware implementations. The protocols involving quantum entanglement require linear Entanglement Preservation Time (EPT) and linear quregister size. In this paper, we propose two new keyless SQC protocols that address the aforementioned weaknesses. They are named Economic Keyless Semi-Quantum Point-to-point Communication (EKSQPC) and Rate Estimation EKSQPC (REKSQPC). They achieve theoretically constant minimal EPT and quregister size, regardless of message length. We show that the new protocols, with low overhead, can detect Measure and Replay Attacks (MRA). REKSQDC is tolerant to transmission impairments and environmental perturbations. The protocols are based on a new quantum message transmission operation termed Tele-Fetch. Like QKD, their strength depends on physical principles rather than mathematical complexity.
Full quantum capability devices can provide secure communications, but they are challenging to make portable given the current technology. Besides, classical portable devices are unable to construct communication channels resistant to quantum computers. Hence, communication security on portable devices cannot be guaranteed. Semi-Quantum Communication (SQC) attempts to break the quandary by lowering the receiver's required quantum capability so that secure communications can be implemented on a portable device. However, all SQC protocols have low qubit efficiency and complex hardware implementations. The protocols involving quantum entanglement require linear Entanglement Preservation Time (EPT) and linear quregister size. In this paper, we propose two new keyless SQC protocols that address the aforementioned weaknesses. They are named Economic Keyless Semi-Quantum Point-to-point Communication (EKSQPC) and Rate Estimation EKSQPC (REKSQPC). They achieve theoretically constant minimal EPT and quregister size, regardless of message length. We show that the new protocols, with low overhead, can detect Measure and Replay Attacks (MRA). REKSQDC is tolerant to transmission impairments and environmental perturbations. The protocols are based on a new quantum message transmission operation termed Tele-Fetch. Like QKD, their strength depends on physical principles rather than mathematical complexity.
Full quantum capability devices can provide secure communications, but they are challenging to make portable given the current technology. Besides, classical portable devices are unable to construct communication channels resistant to quantum computers. Hence, communication security on portable devices cannot be guaranteed. Semi-Quantum Communication (SQC) attempts to break the quandary by lowering the receiver's required quantum capability so that secure communications can be implemented on a portable device. However, all SQC protocols have low qubit efficiency and complex hardware implementations. The protocols involving quantum entanglement require linear Entanglement Preservation Time (EPT) and linear quregister size. In this paper, we propose two new keyless SQC protocols that address the aforementioned weaknesses. They are named Economic Keyless Semi-Quantum Point-to-point Communication (EKSQPC) and Rate Estimation EKSQPC (REKSQPC). They achieve theoretically constant minimal EPT and quregister size, regardless of message length. We show that the new protocols, with low overhead, can detect Measure and Replay Attacks (MRAs). REKSQDC is tolerant to transmission impairments and environmental perturbations. The protocols are based on a new quantum message transmission operation termed Tele-Fetch. Like QKD, their strength depends on physical principles rather than mathematical complexity.
While secure communication between two quantum parties has been shown possible theoretically, what is the possible direct communication between a full quantum capability sender Alice and a limited quantum capability receiver Bob? This is called Semi- Quantum Direct Communication (SQDC). Several protocols have been proposed for secure SQDC. However, they all need a pre-shared key and at least linear entanglement preservation time, as well as a linear number of quantum bit registers, with respect to message length. Besides, complex hardware implementation (including quantum bit permutations) decreases the transmission efficiency. This paper introduces a no-key SQDC protocol requiring only constant entanglement preservation time and a fixed number of quantum bit registers by adding an authentic public classical channel. The quantum circuit complexity of Alice decreases considerably as well as the number of quantum bits transmitted for sending a fixed length message. Moreover, the protocol is provably secure if some precondition is satisfied.
While fully device-independent security in (BB84-like) prepare-and-measure quantum key distribution (QKD) is impossible, it can be guaranteed against individual attacks in a semi-device-independent (SDI) scenario, wherein no assumptions are made on the characteristics of the hardware used except for an upper bound on the dimension of the communicated system. Studying security under such minimal assumptions is especially relevant in the context of the recent quantum hacking attacks wherein the eavesdroppers can not only construct the devices used by the communicating parties but are also able to remotely alter their behavior. In this work, we study the security of a SDIQKD protocol based on the prepare-and-measure quantum implementation of a well-known cryptographic primitive, the random access code (RAC). We consider imperfect detectors and establish the critical values of the security parameters (the observed success probability of the RAC and the detection efficiency) required for guaranteeing security against eavesdroppers with and without quantum memory. Furthermore, we suggest a minimal characterization of the preparation device in order to lower the requirements for establishing a secure key.
It has been shown that secure communication between two partners can be achieved with devices containing components with quantum properties. While such devices are in timid stages of practical availability, the quantum properties exhibited are well defined theoretically: quantum bits (qubits) in persistent quantum states, quantum transformations or gates applicable on qubits, and quantum communication channels between devices. The present paper measures and verifies by simulation a security level of a quantum communication protocol that does not use an encryption/decryption key. The algorithm is simpler than the two-step protocols that involve the distribution of a secret key first. Our simulations measure the security level of the protocol depending on several parameters: the number of encoding bases (two or three), the length of the signature string attached to the message, the percentage of qubits the eavesdropper inspects, etc.
Abstract Semi-quantum private comparison (SQPC) is a quantum cryptographic protocol that allows two classical participants to securely determine whether their private inputs are equal, with the assistance of a semi-honest third party possessing full quantum capabilities. However, most existing SQPC protocols suffer from low qubit efficiency and high implementation costs, primarily due to their reliance on pre-shared keys and complex entangled state preparations. To address these limitations, we propose a novel SQPC protocol based on hybrid quantum states, which integrates Bell states and single-qubit states within a circular transmission architecture. The protocol eliminates the requirement for pre-shared keys and reduces consumption of quantum resources by introducing randomness in the placement of quantum states. Security analysis demonstrates that the proposed protocol is robust against measure–resend attacks, entanglement measurement attacks and internal threats from dishonest participants. Furthermore, performance evaluation shows that the proposed protocol achieves a high qubit efficiency, quantified as η = n 10 n + 1 , where n is the number of bits compared. This efficiency surpasses that of several previously proposed SQPC protocols.
Abstract We attempt to propose the first orthogonal-state-based protocols of measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication and quantum dialogue employing single basis, i.e., Bell basis as decoy qubits for eavesdropping detection. Orthogonal-state-based protocols are inherently distinct from conventional conjugate-coding protocols, offering unconditional security derived from the duality and monogamy of entanglement. Noise imposes a major challenge to the efficient implementation of these measurement-device-independent based secure direct quantum communication protocols. Notably, these orthogonal-state-based protocols demonstrate improved performance over conjugate-coding-based protocols under certain noisy environments, highlighting the significance of selecting the best basis choice of decoy qubits for secure quantum communication under collective noise. Further, we rigorously analyze the security of the proposed protocols against various eavesdropping strategies, including intercept-and-resend attack, entangle-and-measure attack, information leakage attack, flip attack, and disturbance or modification attack. Our findings also show that, with appropriate modifications, the proposed orthogonal-state-based measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication protocol can be transformed into orthogonal-state-based measurement-device-independent versions of quantum key distribution and quantum key negotiation protocols, expanding their applicability. Our protocols leverage fundamentally distinct resources to close the security loopholes linked to measurement devices, while also effectively doubling the distance for secure direct message transmission compared to traditional quantum secure direct communication protocols. Additionally, we calculate the efficiency of our proposed protocols and compare them with standard versions of measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication protocols. Ultimately, we discuss system and operational complexity of our proposed protocols in light of experimental elements and the processes.