Quantum secret sharing (QSS) is the result of merging the principles of quantum mechanics with secret information sharing. It enables a sender to share a secret among receivers, and the receivers can then collectively recover the secret when the need arises. To enhance the practicality of these quantum protocols, an innovative concept of quantum anonymous secret sharing (QASS) is advanced. In this paper, we propose a QASS protocol via W states, which can share secrets while ensuring recover-ability, recover-security, and recover-anonymity. We have rigorously evaluated our protocols, verifying their accuracy and fortifying their security against scenarios involving the active adversary. This includes considerations for dishonest receivers and non-receivers. Moreover, acknowledging the imperfections inherent in real-world communication channels, we have also undertaken an exhaustive analysis of our protocol's security and effectiveness in a quantum network where some form of noise is present. Our investigations reveal that W states exhibit good performance in mitigating noise interference, making them apt for practical applications.
Quantum secret sharing (QSS) is the result of merging the principles of quantum mechanics with secret information sharing. It enables a sender to share a secret among receivers, and the receivers can then collectively recover the secret when the need arises. To enhance the practicality of these quantum protocols, an innovative concept of quantum anonymous secret sharing (QASS) is advanced. In this paper, we propose a QASS protocol via W states, which can share secrets while ensuring recover-ability, recover-security, and recover-anonymity. We have rigorously evaluated our protocols, verifying their accuracy and fortifying their security against scenarios involving the active adversary. This includes considerations for dishonest receivers and non-receivers. Moreover, acknowledging the imperfections inherent in real-world communication channels, we have also undertaken an exhaustive analysis of our protocol's security and effectiveness in a quantum network where some form of noise is present. Our investigations reveal that W states exhibit good performance in mitigating noise interference, making them apt for practical applications.
Quantum secret sharing (QSS) represents the fusion of quantum mechanics principles with secret information sharing, allowing a sender to distribute a secret among receivers for collective recovery. This paper introduces the concept of quantum anonymous secret sharing (QASS) to enhance the practicality of such protocols. We propose a QASS protocol leveraging W states, ensuring both recover-security and anonymity of shared secrets. Our protocol undergoes rigorous evaluation verifying their accuracy and fortifying their security against scenarios involving the active adversary. Additionally, acknowledging the imperfections inherent in real-world communication channels, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of protocol security and efficacy in noisy quantum networks. Our investigations reveal that W states exhibit good performance in mitigating noise interference, making them apt for practical applications.
Abstract Anonymous secret sharing (ASS) is an essential cryptographic concept that facilitates the sharing and reconstruction of secret information while safeguarding the identity of the involved secret receivers, which has broad applications in key management, data backup, and distributed systems. In this study, a novel authenticated quantum anonymous secret sharing (QASS) protocol that emphasizes information privacy and identity anonymity protection is proposed. Employing ‐level multipartite GHZ states as a quantum resource, one‐sided anonymous entanglement (AE) is innovatively established between the dealer and anonymous receivers, enabling the dealer to distribute a random share of secret information. Additionally, by establishing a one‐sided AE between anonymous receivers and restorer, the restorer can securely collect and reconstruct the secret information using quantum teleportation (QT). Rigorous security analysis demonstrates that protocol can resist attacks from active adversaries and potentially dishonest users. Quantum experiments on IBM Qiskit validate the correctness and feasibility of the proposed QASS protocol. This work contributes to the advancement of quantum anonymous communication, addressing the requirements for information privacy and identity anonymity in practical application environments.
Abstract Quantum secret sharing enables participants to share secrets grounded in the principles of quantum mechanics, ensuring the secrets recovery solely through collaborative efforts within an authorized subset of participants. Quantum anonymous secret sharing fulfills the fundamental requirements of quantum secret sharing while also ensuring the anonymity of the secret receivers. In order to address the turnover of personnel in practical scenarios, this paper propose a secure dynamic quantum anonymous secret sharing protocol utilizing Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states. In our scheme, on the premise of not reveal the identities of participants, the dynamic update of the participants can be realized, and the shared secret will not be altered. Furthermore, an identity authentication mechanism using single particles is introduced in this protocol, ensuring that only authenticated participants can engage in the sharing process. The proposed protocol is secure and can resist both internal and external attacks. Experimental validation conducted on the IBM quantum computing platform demonstrates the feasibility of our scheme.
Quantum secret sharing (QSS), as a quantum extension of classical secret sharing, uses the basic principles of quantum mechanics to share information safely among multiple parties, providing a new paradigm for information security. As a key foundation for secure multiparty quantum communication and distributed quantum computing, QSS has attracted considerable attention since its emergence. Currently, research in this field includes both classical and quantum scenarios, and continuous progress has been made in both theoretical and experimental aspects. This paper first reviews the current development of QSS for classical information. In this regard, significant and parallel progress has been made in both discrete-variable QSS and continuous-variable QSS. The QSS protocols for sharing classical information, from entangled states to single photons and then to coherent light, have been continuously optimized to better utilize available resources and achieve more efficient implementation under current technological conditions. Meanwhile, round-robin, measurement-device-independent, and other protocols have been steadily improving the security of QSS. Next, one will focus on QSS scheme for quantum secrets, which begins with the symmetry of access structures and introduces basic (k, n) threshold protocols, dynamic schemes that support adaptive agent groups, and symmetric quantum information splitting through entanglement. It further introduces hierarchical quantum secret sharing schemes for asymmetric splitting of quantum information. Considering practical laboratory conditions of quantum states as resources, an overall discussion is conducted on quantum secret sharing with graph states. Afterwards, the design of a continuous-variable scheme for quantum secret sharing is outlined, and entanglement state sharing and quantum teleportation between multiple senders and receivers are introduced. Finally, this review discusses and outlines the future development directions of QSS, thereby inspiring readers to further study and explore the relevant subjects.
Abstract Quantum secret sharing (QSS) enables secure secret distribution via quantum mechanics, requiring authorized participants to collaborate for recovery. However, practical scenarios often involve classical users, demand recipient anonymity, and need dynamic participant management—features not simultaneously supported by existing schemes. This work presents a secure dynamic semiquantum anonymous secret sharing (DSQASS) protocol using Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-like (GHZ-like) states. The design integrates three practical capabilities: semi-quantum operation for classical participants, dynamic membership updates, and statistical receiver anonymity. Rigorous analysis verifies the protocol’s correctness and resilience against internal and external adversaries. Simulations on a quantum cloud platform confirm its feasibility in hybrid quantum-classical environments.
Quantum secret sharing (QSS) is a crucial quantum cryptographic method that provides unconditional secu-rity through the principles of quantum mechanics and enables practical applications in information security and distributed computing. Many QSS protocols have been proposed based on various quantum properties and operations. In this study, we propose a new and efficient multiparty quantum secret sharing protocol that utilizes entanglement swapping with the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state and introduces a novel structure to efficiently and securely distribute and recover secrets. Due to entanglement swapping, participants can entangle systems without directly interacting with each other, enhancing practical usage. Through GHZ entanglement swapping, initial particle states cannot be directly inferred. The proposed QSS protocol leverages this property to encode information among participants. To decode the secret, participants only require measuring particles on a GHZ basis to get the corresponding information without performing operations. Through security analysis, it is shown that any eavesdropper or dishonest participant will be detected. Efficiency analysis indicates that the proposed protocol substantially reduces costs and significantly enhances efficiency. As the number of participants increases, the resource consumption of the proposed protocol becomes much lower than that of other QSS protocols. In summary, the proposed protocol efficiently achieves unconditional security in QSS, ensuring the secure transmission and sharing of quantum information.