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International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (ICCWS)

Decoy state HD QKD system for secure optical communication

Muhammad Kamran, Muhammad Mubashir Khan, Tahir Malik

Published Nov 23, 2021• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an unconditionally secure way of sharing secret cryptographic keys on a public channel. Recently, high dimension QKD protocols have gained focus to achieve better security against various attack models. Here, we focus on the robustness of high dimensional QKD protocol against two realistic attack models, i.e. photon number splitting (PNS) attack and beam splitter (BS) attack. We present the high dimensional quantum key distribution system that incorporates a decoy-state scheme with complex structured light (OAM modes) using the KMB09 protocol. The complete QKD system design with experimental setup details and evaluation results are presented. The experimental results show that our proposed decoy-state scheme is robust against both PNS and BS attacks.

DOI
10.1109/iccws53234.2021.9702961

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Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an unconditionally secure way of sharing secret cryptographic keys on a public channel. Recently, high dimension QKD protocols have gained focus to achieve better security against various attack models. Here, we focus on the robustness of high dimensional QKD protocol against two realistic attack models, i.e. photon number splitting (PNS) attack and beam splitter (BS) attack. We present the high dimensional quantum key distribution system that incorporates a decoy-state scheme with complex structured light (OAM modes) using the KMB09 protocol. The complete QKD system design with experimental setup details and evaluation results are presented. The experimental results show that our proposed decoy-state scheme is robust against both PNS and BS attacks.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is an innovative quantum communications protocol which exploits the laws of quantum mechanics to generate unconditionally secure cryptographic keying material between two geographically separated parties. The unique nature of QKD shows promise for high-security applications such as those found in banking, government, and military environments. However, QKD systems contain implementation non-idealities which can negatively impact their performance and security.In particular, QKD systems often employ the decoy state protocol to improve system throughput and mitigate the threat of Photon Number Splitting (PNS) attacks. In this work, a detailed analysis of the decoy state protocol is conducted which optimizes both performance in terms of quantum throughput and security with respect to detecting PNS attacks. The results of this study uniquely demonstrate that the decoy state protocol can ensure PNS attacks are detected with high confidence, while maximizing the secure key generation rate at no additional cost. Additionally, implementation security guidance is provided for QKD system developers and users.
Secure quantum key distribution (QKD) promises a revolutionizing in optical applications such as encryption, and imaging. However, their implementation in real-world scenarios continues to be challenged. The goal of this work is to verify the presence of photon number splitting (PNS) attack in quantum cryptography system based on BB84 protocol and to obtain a maximum secure key length as possible. This was realized through randomly interleaving decoy states with mean photon numbers of 5.38, 1.588, and 0.48 between the signal states with mean photon numbers of 2.69, 0.794, and 0.24. Experiment results show that a maximum secure key length obtained from our system, which ignores eavesdropping cases, is 125 with 20% decoy states and 82 with 50% decoy states for mean photon number of 0.794 for signal states and 1.588 for decoy states.
Quantum key distribution(QKD) has emerged as a secure solution of secret key distribution utilizing the well established theories of modern physics. Since its introduction in 1984, many interesting and innovative ideas have been proposed for QKD in order to improve the security and efficiency of the scheme keeping in view of its applications and practicalimplementation. High error rate QKD scheme for long distance communication-theso-called KMB09 protocol is one such scheme which was designed to achieve longer communication distance in QKD, without compromising its security,by allowing the utilisation of higher dimensional photon states which is not possible with standard BB84 scheme. However the practical implementation of KMB09 protocol has not been presented yet because of its unique design. In this paper, we propose a framework for the practical implementation of QKD system that runs KMB09 protocol in two or more dimensions of photon states. We present the KMB09 based QKD system design and its simulation for practical implementation based on the encoding of secret bits in higher order Gaussian beam spatial modes. The proposed framework is specifically evaluated in terms of efficiency or success rate with two and four dimensions of photon states. We find that the simulation results of the proposed framework are inline with the numerical and analytical results of the same QKD model presented earlier.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an innovative technology that exploits the laws of quantum mechanics to generate and distribute a shared cryptographic key for secure communications. The unique nature of QKD ensures that eavesdropping on quantum communications necessarily introduces detectable errors which is desirable for high-security environments. QKD systems have been demonstrated in both freespace and optical fiber configurations, gaining global interest from national laboratories, commercial entities, and the U.S. Department of Defense. However, QKD is a nascent technology where realized systems are constructed from non-ideal components, which can significantly impact system performance and security. In this article, we describe QKD technology as part of a secure communications solution and identify vulnerabilities associated with practical network architectures. In particular, we examine the performance of decoy state enabled QKD systems against a modeled photon number splitting attack and suggest an improvement to the decoy state protocol security condition that does not assume a priori knowledge of the QKD channel efficiency.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) systems exploit the laws of quantum mechanics to generate secure keying material for cryptographic purposes. To date, several commercially viable decoy state enabled QKD systems have been successfully demonstrated and show promise for high-security applications such as banking, government, and military environments. In this work, a detailed performance analysis of decoy state enabled QKD systems is conducted through model and simulation of several common decoy state configurations. The results of this study uniquely demonstrate that the decoy state protocol can ensure Photon Number Splitting (PNS) attacks are detected with high confidence, while maximizing the system’s quantum throughput at no additional cost. Additionally, implementation security guidance is provided for QKD system developers and users.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an innovative technology, which exploits the laws of quantum mechanics to generate and distribute unconditionally secure shared cryptographic keying material between two geographically separated parties. The unique nature of QKD that ensures eavesdropping on the key distribution channel necessarily introduces detectable errors and shows promise for high-security environments, such as banking, government, and military. However, QKD systems are vulnerable to advanced theoretical and experimental attacks. In this paper, the photon number splitting (PNS) attack is studied in a specialized QKD modeling and simulation framework. First, a detailed treatment of the PNS attack is provided with emphasis on practical considerations, such as performance limitations and realistic sources of error. Second, ideal and non-ideal variations of the PNS attack are studied to measure the eavesdropper's information gain on the QKD-generated secret key bits and examine the detectability of PNS attacks with respect to both quantum bit error rate and the decoy state protocol. Finally, this paper provides a repeatable methodology for efficiently studying advanced attacks, both realized and notional, against QKD systems and more generally quantum communication protocols.