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Entropy

A Review of Security Evaluation of Practical Quantum Key Distribution System

Shi‐Hai Sun, Anqi Huang

Published Feb 10, 2022• 77 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Although the unconditional security of quantum key distribution (QKD) has been widely studied, the imperfections of the practical devices leave potential loopholes for Eve to spy the final key. Thus, how to evaluate the security of QKD with realistic devices is always an interesting and opening question. In this paper, we briefly review the development of quantum hacking and security evaluation technology for a practical decoy state BB84 QKD system. The security requirement and parameters in each module (source, encoder, decoder and detector) are discussed, and the relationship between quantum hacking and security parameter are also shown.

DOI
10.3390/e24020260

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•Jan 1, 2021•0 citations
Although the unconditional security of quantum key distribution (QKD) has been widely studied, the imperfections of the practical devices leave potential loopholes for Eve to spy the final key. Thus, how to evaluate the security of QKD with realistic devices is always an interesting and opening question. In this paper, we briefly review the development of quantum hacking and security evaluation technology for a practical decoy state BB84 QKD system. The security requirement and parameters in each module (source, encoder, decoder and detector) are discussed, and the relationship between quantum hacking and security parameter are also shown.
We present a rigorous and complete security proof of the decoy-state BB84 quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol. Our analysis aims to achieve a high standard of mathematical rigour and completeness, thereby providing the necessary foundation for certification and standardization efforts. Beyond establishing the security of a specific protocol, this work develops a general and modular framework that can be readily adapted to a broad class of QKD protocols, including both prepare-and-measure and entanglement-based variants. Our framework unifies all major ingredients required for the analysis of realistic QKD protocols, including the analysis of classical authentication and classical processing, source-replacement schemes, finite-size analysis, source maps, squashing maps, and decoy-state techniques. In doing so, this work consolidates a diverse range of techniques scattered across the QKD literature into a unified formalism, representing a general and rigorous treatment of QKD security. Finally, it outlines a clear path towards incorporating practical imperfections within the same framework, thereby laying the groundwork for addressing implementation security in future analysis.
Abstract Considering the rapid development of quantum technology, it has become inevitable to use this technology to develop an ultimately secured key exchange system. Quantum key distribution (QKD) technology has become more sophisticated, is expected to provide secure key distribution mechanism for the actual information security systems. The unique advantage of quantum cryptography is precisely its ability to guarantee absolute security. Previous works have demonstrated unconditional security of the ideal BB84 QKD system. However, on a typical QKD system, many practical situations often cannot satisfy the requirements of the ideal condition. This problem causes some security issues for practical QKD system. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the security of QKD system under practical conditions, and identify the security implications on the practical physical systems and equipment, in order to find a method that guarantees the security of QKD system. The security of QKD system based on BB84 involves many aspects; this paper mainly focuses on how to resolve security issues that may exist, especially in the BB84 protocol post-processing. We introduce ways to tackle these issues and make vital key information leakage very small. Their impact on the security of entire QKD system is analyzed, and the interaction and security optimization between the various parts is researched. Finally, the thesis briefly introduces five sub-modules of post-processing of QKD system: the base comparison, error estimation, information correction, data check and privacy amplification; the existent security factors of each module is given, for error estimation and information correction is provided the secure model with those issues. Thus, the security model of post-processing is further optimized.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is an innovative technology which exploits the laws of quantum physics to generate and distribute shared secret key for use in cryptographic devices. Quantum Key Distribution offers the advantage of ‘unconditionally secure’ key generation with the unique ability to detect eavesdropping on the key distribution channel and shows promise for high-security applications such as those found in banking, government, and military environments. However, Quantum Key Distribution is a nascent technology where realized systems suffer from implementation non-idealities, which may significantly impact system performance and security. In this article, we discuss the modeling of a decoy state enabled Quantum Key Distribution system built to study the impact of these practical limitations. Specifically, we present a thorough background on the decoy state protocol, detailed discussion of the modeled decoy state enabled Quantum Key Distribution system, and evidence for component and sub-system verification, as well as, multiple examples of system-level validation. Additionally, we bring attention to practical considerations associated with implementing the decoy state protocol security condition gained from these research activities.
This report reviews two quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols: the BB84 protocol and the measurement device independent (MDI) QKD protocol. The goal of this report is to recreate the security proof of the BB84 protocol, to generate the secret key rate for a practical application of the BB84 protocol, both with and without decoy states, and to review the MDI-QKD protocol and look at the advantages it has for practical QKD. The proof security of the BB84 protocol is done by designing an equivalent theoretical protocol and proving its security by bounding the information of the eavesdropper to an exponentially small number. The best distance over which secret key rate can be generated with the practical model of the BB84 protocol that is presented in this report, is 165 km. This is achieved by employing decoy states and is more than three times as far as the model can achieve without decoy states, which gave a distance of 52 km at best. The zero distance key rate of the model with decoy states is R = 1.21 · 10-2 bits per pulse (bpp), at best. This is an order of magnitude larger than R =1.02 · 10-3 bpp, which is what the model without decoy states could produce. The decoy state method is therefore an improvement for practical QKD. By reviewing the MDI-QKD protocol it can be concluded that because it eliminates the measurement device side channels, it is very useful for practical QKD, since it makes security analysis simpler and more precise. It also necessarily employs decoy states, which improves the secret key rate. MDI-QKD therefore is a promising protocol to use for future quantum communications.