Quantum-secure authentication with single-photon states

Yan Zuo Chang, Chunxiang Xu, Shibin Zhang +1 more

Yang Jing, 王川, 张茹

Changho Hong, Jino Heo, Jin Gak Jang +1 more

Xian-Tao Zhou, Yinghua Jiang, Xiaojun Guo +1 more

In response to the demand for identity authentication in quantum secure direct communication, this paper proposes a quantum secure direct communication scheme based on a mixture of single photon and Bell state, by combining the bidirectional identity authentication. Before communication begins, both parties share a series of secret information to prepare a series of single photon and Bell state particles. Encoding four single photons and four Bell states yields eight types of encoded information, followed by identity authentication. The first step in identity authentication is to use a single photon to verify the legitimacy of the receiver. If the error exceeds the given threshold, it indicates the presence of eavesdropping. Otherwise, the channel is safe. Then, Bell state particles are used to verify the legitimacy of the sender, and the threshold is also used to determine whether there is eavesdropping. The present method is the same as previous one. If the error rate is higher than the given threshold, it indicates the existence of third-party eavesdropping. Otherwise, it indicates that the channel is secure. As for the specific verification method, it will be explained in detail in the article. Afterwards, Bell state particles are mixed with a single photon as a transmission carrier, and eavesdropping detection particles are added whenever the quantum state is sent. However, once the eavesdropper intercepts the transmitted particles, owing to incomplete information obtained, the eavesdropper is unable to recover the original information, and the eavesdropping behavior will be immediately detected, thus terminating communication. In this scheme, single photon and Bell states are fully utilized, and hybrid communication can effectively improve transmission efficiency, encoding capability, and quantum bit utilization. Security analysis shows that this scheme can resist common external and internal attacks such as interception/measurement replay attacks, auxiliary particle attacks, and identity impersonation attacks. The analysis of efficiency and encoding capacity shows that the transmission efficiency of this scheme is 1, the encoding capacity is 3 bits per state, and the quantum bit utilization rate is 1. Compared with other schemes, this scheme has significant advantages because it uses different particles for bidirectional authentication, making it more difficult for attackers to crack, and thus it has higher security than traditional schemes.

Tian‐Yin Wang, Wen Qiao-yan, Fu-Chen Zhu

This paper proposes a scheme for secure authentication of classical messages with single photons and a hashed function. The security analysis of this scheme is also given, which shows that anyone cannot forge valid message authentication codes (MACs). In addition, the lengths of the authentication key and the MACs are invariable and shorter, in comparison with those presented authentication schemes. Moreover, quantum data storage and entanglement are not required in this scheme. Therefore, this scheme is more efficient and economical.

Jing Yang, Chuan Xi Wang, Ru Zhang

In this paper we propose two quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) protocols with authentication. The authentication key expansion method is introduced to improve the life of the keys with security. In the first scheme, the third party, called Trent is introduced to authenticate the users that participate in the communication. He sends the polarized photons in blocks to authenticate communication parties Alice and Bob using the authentication keys. In the communication process, polarized single photons are used to serve as the carriers, which transmit the secret messages directly. The second QSDC process with authentication between two parties is also discussed.