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arXiv:1812.09749 · Physical Review A

Continuous-variable quantum digital signatures over insecure channels

Matthew Thornton, H. E. Scott, Callum Croal, Natalia Korolkova

Published Mar 25, 2019• 28 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Digital signatures ensure the integrity of a classical message and the authenticity of its sender. Despite their far-reaching use in modern communication, currently used signature schemes rely on computational assumptions and will be rendered insecure by a quantum computer. We present a quantum digital signatures (QDS) scheme whose security is instead based on the impossibility of perfectly and deterministically distinguishing between quantum states. Our continuous-variable (CV) scheme relies on phase measurement of a distributed alphabet of coherent states and allows for secure message authentication against a quantum adversary performing collective beamsplitter and entangling-cloner attacks. Crucially, in the CV setting we allow for an eavesdropper on the quantum channels and yet retain shorter signature lengths than previous protocols with no eavesdropper. This opens up the possibility to implement CV QDS alongside existing CV quantum key distribution platforms with minimal modification.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.99.032341

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Digital signatures ensure the integrity of a classical message and the authenticity of its sender. Despite their far-reaching use in modern communication, currently used signature schemes rely on computational assumptions and will be rendered insecure by a quantum computer. We present a quantum digital signatures (QDS) scheme whose security is instead based on the impossibility of perfectly and deterministically distinguishing between quantum states. Our continuous-variable (CV) scheme relies on phase measurement of a distributed alphabet of coherent states and allows for secure message authentication against a quantum adversary performing collective beamsplitter and entangling-cloner attacks. Crucially, in the CV setting we allow for an eavesdropper on the quantum channels and yet retain shorter signature lengths than previous protocols with no eavesdropper. This opens up the possibility to implement CV QDS alongside existing CV quantum key distribution platforms with minimal modification.
Quantum digital signatures (QDSs), which utilize correlated bit strings among sender and recipients, guarantee the authenticity, integrity, and nonrepudiation of classical messages based on quantum laws. Continuous-variable (CV) quantum protocol with heterodyne and homodyne measurement has obvious advantages of low-cost implementation and easy wavelength division multiplexing. However, security analyses in previous research are limited to the proof against collective attacks in finite-size scenarios. Moreover, existing multibit CV QDS schemes have primarily focused on adapting single-bit protocols for simplicity of security proof, often sacrificing signature efficiency. Here, we introduce a CV QDS protocol designed to withstand general coherent attacks through the use of a cutting-edge fidelity test function, while achieving high signature efficiency by employing a refined one-time universal hashing signing technique. Our protocol is proved to be robust against finite-size effects and excess noise in quantum channels. In simulation, results demonstrate a significant reduction of over six orders of magnitude in signature length for a megabit message signing task compared with existing CV QDS protocols and this advantage expands as the message size grows. Our work offers a solution with enhanced security and efficiency, paving the way for large-scale deployment of CV QDSs in future quantum networks.
A quantum digital signature (QDS) is utilized to authenticate classical messages and offers information theoretical security guaranteed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Focusing on signing a one-bit message, previous continuous-variable quantum digital signature (CV-QDS) protocols that shared secret keys are generated by quantum key distribution, and it is only mentioned to suitably iterate the one-bit protocol for a multibit message. Although the CV-QDS protocol is unconditionally secure while sending single-bit messages, iterating the one-bit protocol in a naive way will allow some forgery attacks. In this paper, for signing one-bit and multibit messages, a CV-QDS protocol is proposed, on the condition that nonrepudiation and no forging are guaranteed. For one-bit and multibit schemes, we compare the difference in the distribution stage and messaging stage, analyzing the security as well as summarizing some formulas for calculation. We hope the protocol with continuous variables could further improve the performance of QDS.
Digital signatures are widely used in modern communication to guarantee authenticity and transferability of messages. The security of currently used classical schemes relies on computational assumptions. We present a quantum signature scheme that does not require trusted quantum channels. We prove that it is unconditionally secure against the most general coherent attacks, and show that it requires the transmission of significantly fewer quantum states than previous schemes. We also show that the quantum channel noise threshold for our scheme is less strict than for distilling a secure key using quantum key distribution. This shows that ``direct'' quantum signature schemes can be preferable to signature schemes relying on secret shared keys generated using quantum key distribution.
Abstract A quantum digital signature (QDS) is guaranteed by the laws of quantum physics and can provide unconditional security to authenticate classical messages. Previous QDS protocols that shared secret keys could be realized using discrete-variable quantum key distribution (DV-QKD), for which the DV-QKD relied on extreme requirements like single-photon detection and extremely weak pulses of light. QDS protocols are mainly focused on how to sign a one-bit message rather than multi-bit messages. In this paper, we present a continuous-variable quantum digital signature (CV-QDS) protocol for signing multi-bit messages. The CV-QDS protocol has better compatibility with existing communication systems and the encoding strategy for multi-bit messages is simpler than before. We hope the continuous-variable protocol could further improve the performance of QDS.
In the first half of this Thesis, we introduce a framework of “quantum cryptographic agility,” which allows for a resource-efficient swap of an underlying cryptographic protocol. Specifically, we introduce several schemes which perform the tasks of Digital Signatures and Secret Sharing. Our first achievement is an investigation of Quantum Digital Signatures (QDS) over a continuous-variables platform, consisting of phase-encoded coherent states and heterodyne phase detection. QDS allows for secure authentication of a classical message, while guaranteeing message transferability. For the first time, we prove security of CV QDS in the presence of an eavesdropper on the quantum channels. We then introduce a continuous variable (CV) Quantum Secret Sharing (QSS) protocol. Our security proof allows for classical information to be split and shared between multiple potentially dishonest recipients, while retaining security against collective beamsplitter and entangling-cloner attacks. In the last chapter of this half, we introduce another QDS scheme which runs over identical hardware setup to our QSS protocol. We analyse experimental data in which quantum coherent states were distributed at a rate of 1 GHz, which for QDS allows us to securely sign a message in less than 0.05 ms. In the second half of this Thesis we suggest and discuss a deterministic source of nonclassical light, which we call “PhoG”. Our source is based on the coherent diffusive photonics, relying on both coherent and dissipative evolution of the quantum state, and may be realised in an array of dissipatively-coupled laser-inscribed waveguides in a χ⁽³⁾ glass. We analyse the PhoG device with several analytical and numerical models and demonstrate that a coherent state input leads to a bright output state with strong photon-number squeezing. With minor reconfiguration our system can generate entanglement between spatially separated modes via a process analogous to four-wave mixing.
Digital signatures guarantee the authenticity and transferability of messages and are widely used in modern communication. The security of currently used classical digital signature schemes, however, relies on computational assumptions. In contrast, quantum digital signature (QDS) schemes offer information-theoretic security guaranteed by the laws of quantum mechanics. We present two QDS protocols which have the same experimental requirements as quantum key distribution, which is already commercially available. We also give a security proof for the presented QDS schemes against coherent forging attacks.