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IU-Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering

QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY AND COMPARISON OF QUANTUM KEY DISTRIBUTION PROTOCOLS

Ergün Gümüş, Zeynep Gurkas Aydin, Muhammed Ali Aydın

Published Jan 1, 2008• 6 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Even though there have been various proposed and wideley used ciphering techniques in cryptography, main improvements in this field came out with the idea of “super computing”. Till now, popular methods like DES, AES and RSA which can be mathematically cracked in a duration of universe’s age, have been proposed. But all of these methods’s future is at risk because of the studies in production of “Quantum Computer”s of which computation speed is estimated to be very high so that no other existing super computers compete with them. At this stage, by using quantum mechanics a new method called “Quantum Key Distribution” and its protocols for the process of building cipher key, are proposed instead of determining new mathematical solutions for securing the data. In this study, a simulation project based on previously proposed Quantum Key Distribution protocols BB84 and B92, will be explained. At the end of the project by using BB84 and B92 protocols, a comparison of quantum bit error rates and detection rates of eavesdropping according to protocols, is done and results are obtained.

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Even though there have been various proposed and wideley used ciphering techniques in cryptography, main improvements in this field came out with the idea of “super computing”. Till now, popular methods like DES, AES and RSA which can be mathematically cracked in a duration of universe’s age, have been proposed. But all of these methods’s future is at risk because of the studies in production of “Quantum Computer”s of which computation speed is estimated to be very high so that no other existing super computers compete with them. At this stage, by using quantum mechanics a new method called “Quantum Key Distribution” and its protocols for the process of building cipher key, are proposed instead of determining new mathematical solutions for securing the data. In this study, a simulation project based on previously proposed Quantum Key Distribution protocols BB84 and B92, will be explained. At the end of the project by using BB84 and B92 protocols, a comparison of quantum bit error rates and detection rates of eavesdropping according to protocols, is done and results are obtained.
Essential role of Internet-based communication is the security of information. Classical Cryptography is based on mathematical models and computational complexity to compute the secret key. It does not provide enough security because finding a fast method to calculate the secret key will compromise the security of the system. Quantum Key Distribution is one of the most promising methods which provide unconditional security. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) uses a quantum property in exchanging information called photons, as carriers of information in security systems, and QKD cannot separate from protocols BB84, B92 and BBM92. In this paper, we are testing the probability error comparison of BB84 protocol, B92 protocol, and BBM92 using QuVis simulator software. The results show that the B92 protocol is more relevant in detecting eavesdropping in lower error rates than the other two protocols.
Cryptography is being introduced to secure data. Through Classical Cryptographic technique, we can encrypt our data and secure secret key also. But classical cryptography is based on mathematical techniques where reversing one-way function is possible with sufficient computing power and time. So, Quantum Cryptography is introduced to overcome those drawbacks of traditional classical cryptography. It is based on the values of quantum mechanics and photon. Scientists and researchers have brought up a new key distribution protocol based on Quantum Cryptography is called Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Protocol. The first QKD protocol BB84 was introduced by Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard in 1984. After that several QKD protocols have been created. In this paper we have improved BB84 Protocol by removing the drawbacks of the existing algorithm towards Eavesdropping which may not be detected or disclosing large portion of secret key. Steps of the existing BB84 algorithm along with the modified one is described in detail with example and pseudo code. Limitations of BB84 and comparative study of both the existing and the improved one based on their security has been made and described in this current work.
Quantum computing poses significant threats to conventional cryptographic techniques such as RSA and AES, motivating the need for quantum secure communication methods. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) offers information theoretic security based on fundamental quantum principles. This paper presents a simulation-based analysis of well-known QKD protocols, namely BB84, B92, and E91, using the IBM Qiskit framework. Realistic quantum channel effects, including noise, decoherence, and eavesdropping, are modeled to evaluate protocol performance. Key metrics such as error rate, secret key generation, and security characteristics are analyzed and compared. The study highlights practical challenges in QKD implementation, including hardware limitations and channel losses, and discusses insights toward scalable and robust quantum communication systems. The results support the feasibility of QKD as a promising solution for secure communication in the quantum era.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) which is the name of cryptography in quantum environment act as the highest developed area in quantum communication and computing technology (QCIT). \n \nQKD is inventive technology which utilize the laws of quantum to create a cryptographic share key to make the communication system secure. The unique feature of QKD assures eavesdropping detectable during quantum communications which is fascinating for a high-level secure environment.Most of the traditional cryptographic methods which we use currently are based on mathematical scheme or Computational complexity theory which are not completely safe. Using quantum cryptography has been achieved extensive steps in communication security establishment. As the information Unit has been changed from “bit” to Quantum bit (Qubit), a new element has been offered that can guarantee the shared information confidentiality between parties. The confidentiality of system is established via exchanging a secret key through a channel of quantum, the key which we use for encrypting the shared data. This structure has quantum integration which has been developed by physics law and techniques of cryptography. \n \nThis thesis has proposed a modified version of QKD protocol, this new protocol will generate a cryptographic share key for a more efficient, lower cost and secure communication between two parties (sender and Receiver). This new protocol principal is similar to BBM92, but the source of photon moved to sender instead of third-party photon generator, following steps will be executed in this Experiment: \n \n•\tObserve different categories protocols of QKD in details \n•\tThe Quantum Mechanics Visualisation Project (QuVis) is the simulation software that has been used for implementing the proposed protocol [BB84 with spin] among the other three (BBM92, B92 and BB84). \n•\tProbability ratio of error will be tested and compared for all protocols, for this experiment 100 to 5000 photons will be sent. \n \nBy Analysing collected data in this experiment, it will be determined which one of this four protocols lead the detecting of eavesdropping. Simulation software accomplishes the value of error key probability which receiver can use and should not pass over the range limit of 0.25 & 0.5.
This paper presents the development, comparison, and analysis of several implementations of the B92 Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocol. To achieve this goal three prototypes which consists of traditional simulators (non-quantum) were created, one for the B92 protocol, one for the B92 protocol with an eavesdropper, and one for the B92 protocol with the Quantum Bit Travel Time (QBTT) eavesdropper detection method. The principles of quantum mechanics were studied, as a foundation of quantum cryptography, for the implementation of the simulation programs that were written in C++, focusing mainly on the B92 protocol and QBTT eavesdropper detection method. We compared the Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER) for the implementation of the B92 protocol without an eavesdropper, the B92 protocol with an eavesdropper and the B92 protocol with the QBTT eavesdropper detection method and found that the latest one significantly reduces the QBER from the final key.
The study of quantum computation has yielded many advantages over classical computing. One area in which quantum computation has been shown to be superior is encryption. The main advantage of quantum key distribution schemes over conventional ones is that the security of the former is guaranteed by the very laws of physics (quantum mechanics in this case), while the security of the latter usually rests on unproven assumptions about the computational difficulty of a certain problem (such as factoring a large integer).This study focuses on two key distribution protocols based on the quantum model: One developed by Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard in 1984 (BB84), the other developed by Marius Nagy and Selim Akl in 2006 (NA06), which uses BB84 as a base, but expands on it using the Quantum Fourier Transform.Unlike conventional protocols, quantum protocols have the ability to detect eavesdropping and the NA06 protocol is the first key distribution scheme capable of detecting an eavesdropper by testing bits that were not even eavesdropped on while in transit. The purpose of this study is to asses the performance of this novel protocol relative to the now classical BB84. These protocols are simulated on a classical computer and compared to determine what advantages, if any, the NA06 protocol holds over the BB84. The results of this report have implications in the theory of quantum key distribution.