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arXiv:2010.10236

On the lightweight authenticated semi-quantum key distribution protocol without Trojan horse attack

Jun Gu, Tzonelih Hwang

Published Oct 20, 2020• 0 citations
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Abstract

Recently, Tsai et al. (Laser Phys. Lett. 17, 075202, 2020) proposed a lightweight authenticated semi-quantum key distribution protocol for a quantum participant to share a secret key with a classical participant. However, this study points out that an attacker can use a modification attack to make both participants share a wrong key without being detected. To avoid this problem, an improvement is proposed here.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2010.10236

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Recently, Tsai et al. (Laser Phys. Lett. 17, 075202, 2020) proposed a lightweight authenticated semi-quantum key distribution protocol for a quantum participant to share a secret key with a classical participant. However, this study points out that an attacker can use a modification attack to make both participants share a wrong key without being detected. To avoid this problem, an improvement is proposed here.
Abstract A lightweight authenticated semi-quantum key distribution (LASQKD) protocol is proposed for secure communication. By pre-sharing a master key and adopting a one-way communication strategy, the proposed protocol allows a quantum user and a classical user to share secret keys without using an authenticated classical channel and any Trojan horse detection device. Security analyses show that the proposed LASQKD protocol is free from well-known attacks, and a simulation implementation proves the feasibility of the proposed protocol. Compared to existing authenticated semi-quantum key distribution protocols, the protocol proposed herein provides improved practicality, indicating its potential for use in modern quantum systems.
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.
Recently, a mutual semi-quantum key agreement protocol using Bell states is proposed by Yan et al. (Mod. Phys. Lett. A, 34, 1950294, 2019). The proposed protocol tries to help a quantum participant share a key with a classical participant who just has limited quantum capacities. Yan et al. claimed that both the participants have the same influence on the final shared key. However, this study points out that the classical participant can manipulate the final shared key by himself/herself without being detected. To solve this problem, an improved method is proposed here.
A recent paper proposed a semi-quantum secret sharing (SQSS) scheme based on Bell states [A. Yin et al., Mod. Phys. Lett. B. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217984917501500 ]. This protocol was presumed that only the sender has the quantum power and all participants perform classical operations. However, we find this protocol is not that secure as it is expected. We can utilize the intercept-resend method to attack this scheme. Then, we give an improvement strategy based on semi-quantum key distribution, which ensures that the new scheme resists the attack we have proposed.