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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Quantum enigma cipher as a generalization of the quantum stream cipher

Kentaro Kato

Published Sep 13, 2016• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Various types of randomizations for the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol have been developed so far. In particular, it must be noted that the analysis of immunity against correlation attacks with a new type of randomization by Hirota and Kurosawa prompted a new look at the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol (Quant. Inform. Process. 6(2) 2007). From the preceding study on the quantum stream cipher, we recognized that the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol would be able to be generalized to a new type of physical cipher that has potential to exceed the Shannon limit by installing additional randomization mechanisms, in accordance with the law of quantum mechanics. We call this new type of physical random cipher the quantum enigma cipher. In this article, we introduce the recent developments for the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol and future plans toward the quantum enigma cipher.

DOI
10.1117/12.2237570

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Various types of randomizations for the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol have been developed so far. In particular, it must be noted that the analysis of immunity against correlation attacks with a new type of randomization by Hirota and Kurosawa prompted a new look at the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol (Quant. Inform. Process. 6(2) 2007). From the preceding study on the quantum stream cipher, we recognized that the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol would be able to be generalized to a new type of physical cipher that has potential to exceed the Shannon limit by installing additional randomization mechanisms, in accordance with the law of quantum mechanics. We call this new type of physical random cipher the quantum enigma cipher. In this article, we introduce the recent developments for the quantum stream cipher by Y00 protocol and future plans toward the quantum enigma cipher.
This paper is dedicated to the late Professor H.P. Yuen in commemoration to our 50-year friendship. He invented the concept of quantum stream cipher. It is designed based on a completely different concept from conventional ciphers. The purpose of this cipher is to provide information-theoretic security of long data and secret key with short key length. It is based on hiding the ciphertext of mathematical cipher with quantum noise, achieving unprecedented information-theoretic security in any cipher. The protocol corresponds to randomizing the ciphertext by means of differentiating the receiving performance of Bob with key and Eve without key according to the principle of quantum communication theory. In this paper, we introduce some progress on the specific method to develop from the standard type to generalized quantum stream cipher (Quantum Enigma Cipher). There are two methods for generalization. One is the additional randomization method by the product cipher form and the other is the M-th order extended quantum coding method. Here we discuss the former. The results proved that it has sufficient information-theoretic security against known plaintext attack on key in comparison with quantum data locking. The latter method will be reported in Part II.
The security in the next generation optical network which realizes "Cloud Computing System Service with data center" is one of the most important problems. In such a network, the encryption in physical layer which provide super security and small delay is a preferable. It has to be applicable, however, to very high speed data because the basic link is operated at 2.5 Gbit/sec ~ 10 Gbit/sec. The quantum stream cipher by Yuen-2000 protocol (Y00) is a completely new type of random cipher, which can exceed the Shannon limit of the symmetric key cipher. This paper extends some theoretical results on the security for quantum stream cipher such as Y00 protocol and generalized Y00. First, the conditions to exceed the Shannon limit are summarized. We formulate a generalized secret capacity in the sense of wire tap channel supported by secret key to clarify a cipher exceeding the Shannon limit. The generalized secret capacities for space communication and fiber communication based on the generalized Y00 are given. When the relaxation of physical constraint or device limit of the eavesdropper is allowed, we point out that a cipher scheme exceeding the Shannon limit can be realized only by the conventional optical system.
This research note II introduces a way to understand a basic concept of the quantum enigma cipher. The conventional cipher is designed by a mathematical algorithm and its security is evaluated by the complexity of the algorithm in security analysis and ability of computers. This kind of cipher can be decrypted with probability one in principle by the Brute force attack in which an eavesdropper tries all the possible keys based on the correct ciphertext and some known plaintext. A cipher with quantum effects in physical layer may protect the system from the Brute force attack by means of the quantum no cloning theorem and randomizations based on quantum noise effect. The randomizations for the ciphertext which is the output from the mathematical encryption box is crucial to realize a quantum enigma cipher. Especially, by randomizations, it is necessary to make a substantial difference in accuracy of ciphertext in eavesdropper's observation and legitimate user's observation. The quantum illumination protocol can make a difference in error performance of the legitimate's receiver and the eavesdropper's receiver. This difference is due to differences in ability of the legitimate's receiver with entanglement and the eavesdropper's receiver without entanglement. It is shown in this note that the quantum illumination can be employed as an element of the most simple quantum enigma cipher.
This research note suggests a new way to realize a high speed direct encryption based on quantum detection theory. The conventional cipher is designed by a mathematical algorithm and its security is evaluated by the complexity of the algorithm for cryptanalysis and ability of computers. This kind of cipher cannot exceed the Shannon limit of cryptography,and it can be decrypted with probability one in principle by trying all the possible keys against the data length equal to the secret key length. A cipher with quantum effect in physical layer may exceed the Shannon limit of cryptography. The quantum stream cipher by α/ηα/ηα/η or Yuen-2000 protocol (Y-00) which operates at Gbit/sec is a typical example of such a cipher. That is, ciphertext of mathematical cipher with a secret key is masked by quantum noise of laser light when an eavesdropper observes optical signals as a ciphertext of the mathematical cipher, while the legitimate receiver does not suffer the quantum noise effect. As a result, the inherent difference of accuracy of ciphertext between eavesdropper and legitimate receiver arises. This is a necessary condition to exceed the Shannon limit of cryptography. In this note, we present a new method to generate an inherent difference of accuracy of the ciphertext, taking into account a fundamental properties of quantum detection schemes.
We investigate the Yuen 2000 (so-called Y-00)-protocol, which can realize a randomized stream cipher with high bit rate (Gbit/s) for long distances (several hundreds km). The randomized stream cipher with randomization by quantum noise based on the Y-00 protocol is called a quantum stream cipher in this paper, and it may have security against known plaintext attacks which has no analog with any conventional symmetric key ciphers. We present a simple cryptanalysis based on an attacker's heterodyne measurement and a quantum unambiguous measurement to make clear the strength of the Y-00 protocol in real communication. In addition, we give a design for the implementation of an intensity-modulation scheme and report an experimental demonstration of 1Gbit∕s1\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{Gbit}∕\mathrm{s}1Gbit∕s quantum stream cipher through a $20\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{km}$-long transmission line.
This paper presents the security analysis on the quantum stream cipher so called Yuen-2000 protocol (or αηαηαη scheme) against the fast correlation attack, the typical attack on stream ciphers. Although a very simple experimental model of the quantum stream cipher without a random mapper may be decrypted in the information theoretic sense by the fast correlation algorithm, it is not a basic feature of Yuen 2000 protocol. In fact, we clarify that there exists a randomization scheme which attains the perfect correlation immunity against such attacks under an approximation. And in this scheme, the running key correlation from the second randomization that determines the mapping patterns is dismissed also by quantum noise. In such a case, any fast correlation attack does not work on the quantum stream cipher.