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arXiv:2009.06283

Mediated Asymmetric Semi-Quantum Key Distribution

Yi Fan Yang, Tzonelih Hwang

Published Sep 14, 2020• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

This study proposes a new mediated asymmetric semi-quantum key distribution (MASQKD) protocol. With the help of a dishonest third party, two classical participants, who have only limited asymmetric quantum capabilities, can share a secret key with each other. The proposed protocol is shown to be immune to several well-known attacks. Furthermore, an improved MASQKD protocol is proposed in which the quantum capabilities of one participant can be further reduced.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2009.06283

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This study proposes a new mediated asymmetric semi-quantum key distribution (MASQKD) protocol. With the help of a dishonest third party, two classical participants, who have only limited asymmetric quantum capabilities, can share a secret key with each other. The proposed protocol is shown to be immune to several well-known attacks. Furthermore, an improved MASQKD protocol is proposed in which the quantum capabilities of one participant can be further reduced.
The mediated semi-quantum key distribution (MSQKD) protocol is an important research issue that lets two classical participants share secret keys securely between each other with the help of a third party (TP). However, in the existing MSQKD protocols, there are two improvable issues, namely (1) the classical participants must be equipped with expensive detectors to avoid Trojan horse attacks and (2) the trustworthiness level of TP must be honest. To the best of our knowledge, none of the existing MSQKD protocols can resolve both these issues. Therefore, this study takes Bell states as the quantum resource to propose a MSQKD protocol, in which the classical participants do not need a Trojan horse detector and the TP is dishonest. Furthermore, the proposed protocol is shown to be secure against well-known attacks and the classical participants only need two quantum capabilities. Therefore, in comparison to the existing MSQKD protocols, the proposed protocol is better practical.
In this paper, we propose a new efficient mediated semi-quantum key distribution (MSQKD) protocol, facilitating the establishment of a shared secret key between two classical participants with the assistance of an untrusted third party (TP). Unlike existing MSQKD protocols, our approach significantly reduces the quantum requirements for TP, who only needs to prepare and measure qubits in the XXX basis. Meanwhile, the classical participants are limited to preparing and measuring qubits in the ZZZ basis, along with performing Hadamard operations. This reduction in quantum overhead enhances the practicality of our MSQKD protocol without compromising qubit efficiency. Additionally, we demonstrate the security of our protocol against various well-known attacks.
Classical users can share a secret key with a quantum user by using a semi-quantum key distribution (SQKD) protocol. Allowing two classical users to share a secret key is the objective of the mediated semi-quantum key distribution (MSQKD) protocol. However, the existing MSQKD protocols need a quantum user to assist two classical users in distributing the secret keys, and these protocols require that the classical users be equipped with a Trojan horse photon detector. This reduces the practicability of the MSQKD protocols. Therefore, in this study we propose a lightweight MSQKD, in which the two participants and third party are classical users. Due to the usage of the one-way transmission strategy, the proposed lightweight MSQKD protocol is free from quantum Trojan horse attack. The proposed MSQKD is more practical than the existing MSQKD protocols.
Abstract Semi‐quantum key distribution is a very interesting new branch of quantum key distribution. It can be implemented when one or more participants are restricted to operate quantum states only on the quantum computational basis. Very recently, a mediated semi‐quantum key distribution protocol without invoking two participants' quantum measurement has been proposed. The protocol allows two “classical” participants without sophisticated quantum capability to establish a shared secret key under an untrusted third party. It is claimed that the protocol is secure against several well‐known attacks. However, in this paper, it is first pointed out that there exist three attacks “Measurement Attack, Modification Attack, and Collective Attack” on the mediated semi‐quantum key distribution protocol without invoking quantum measurement. By proposed attacks, a malicious third party can obtain the secret key without being noticed by legitimated participants.