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Tamper-Indicating Quantum Optical Seals

Travis S. Humble, D. Duncan Earl, Brian P. Williams

Published Jan 11, 2016• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Abstract—We demonstrate a quantum optical seal using en-tangled photons to monitor the integrity of a fiber-optic channel subject to tampering. This application of quantum photonics provides a basis for physical layer security in cyber-physical systems. I.

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Tamper-indicating quantum optical seals

Travis S. Humble, Duncan Earl, Brian P. Williams

We demonstrate a quantum optical seal using entangled photons to monitor the integrity of a fiber-optic channel subject to tampering. This application of quantum photonics provides a basis for physical layer security in cyber-physical systems.

IEEE Photonics Conference•Sep 1, 2012•1 citation

Tamper-Indicating Quantum Seal

Brian P. Williams, Keith A. Britt, Travis S. Humble

Verifying the integrity of a tamper-indicating seal is crucial in surveillance and containment technologies, as an intruder may try to hide a breach. Seals based on the no-cloning principle of quantum mechanics offer an unprecedented level of security. By monitoring the entanglement of transmitted photon pairs, the authors detect intrusion attempts with 99.99% probability, and just a 10${}^{-9}$ chance for a false alarm. In contrast, any conventional optical system would fail this test completely.

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We report on our development of the fiber-optic quantum seal (FOQS) which will provide highsensitivity detection capabilities for tamper events at bulk storage facilities to enhance safeguards verification efforts.Long-term verification of critical assets in storage facilities for the containment and surveillance mission area must provide material accountancy with assurance of security and continuity of knowledge.As a part of this effort, future monitoring systems may incorporate networked sensors to perform status checks on individual or collection of containers.FOQC enhances current practices by making use of quantum optical probes to enable channel integrity checks and sensor data authentication.Encoded light pulses in the fiber channels will monitor for intrusions while decoding of these pulses will provide data authentication.FOQS consists of an interferometric quantum transceiver which transmits randomly encoded packets of photons over a fiber loop used to seal a container.These photon packets return to the receiver to be decoded for amplitude and phase information.Comparisons of the transmit and receive signals allow for the characterization of the channel.If the comparison shows high degree of correlation, channel integrity and authentication are deemed true, while a lack of correlation triggers an intrusion alarm.The key advantage that FOQS has is that the quantum probes are governed by the uncertainty principle which prevents the intruder from attacking the channel without leaving a trace.This trace will be used to detect the attack attempt.Experimental work will be discussed for the seal development, and theoretical analysis for enhanced security will be presented in the hypothesis-test framework.

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The physical layer describes how communication signals are encoded and transmitted across a channel. Physical security often requires either restricting access to the channel or performing periodic manual inspections. In this tutorial, we describe how the field of quantum communication offers new techniques for securing the physical layer. We describe the use of quantum seals as a unique way to test the integrity and authenticity of a communication channel and to provide security for the physical layer. We present the theoretical and physical underpinnings of quantum seals including the quantum optical encoding used at the transmitter and the test for non-locality used at the receiver. We describe how the envisioned quantum physical sublayer senses tampering and how coordination with higher protocol layers allows quantum seals to influence secure routing or tailor data management methods. We conclude by discussing challenges in the development of quantum seals, the overlap with existing quantum key distribution cryptographic services, and the relevance of a quantum physical sublayer to the future of communication security.

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Fiber-Optic Quantum Seal For Safeguards.

Junji Urayama

We report new results on our development of the fiber-optic quantum seal (FOQS) which will provide high-sensitivity tamper detection capabilities at nuclear facilities to enhance safeguards verification efforts.Long-term verification of critical assets in storage facilities for containment and surveillance must provide material accountancy with continuity of knowledge.As a part of this effort, FOQC will enhance current practices by making use of quantum optical probes to enable fiber-channel integrity checks and sensor data authentication.FOQS consists of an interferometric quantum transceiver which transmits randomly encoded packets of photons over an optical fiber loop used to seal a container.These photon packets return to the receiver to be decoded for field quadrature information.Comparisons of the transmit and receive signals allow for the characterization of the channel.If the comparison shows high degree of correlation, channel integrity and authentication are deemed true, while a lack of correlation triggers an intrusion alarm.The key advantage of the FOQS is that the quantum probes are governed by the uncertainty principle which prevents the intruder from attacking the channel without leaving a trace.We present new results obtained in years two and three of this project, including improvements in the experimental system, automated numerical analysis of obtained experimental data, and extended theoretical analysis of the FOQS sensitivity under realistic conditions.These capabilities increase seal sensitivity and enables detection of data falsification attacks.SNL is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525.SAND2022-XXXX C.

•Nov 6, 2023•0 citations

Quantum monitored long-distance secure optical network

Yupeng Gong, Rupesh Kumar, A. Wonfor +2 more

We report a method for monitoring physical layer security in optical fiber communication using a modulated quantum signal.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Jan 1, 2018•2 citations
Verifying the integrity of a tamper-indicating seal is crucial in surveillance and containment technologies, as an intruder may try to hide a breach. Seals based on the no-cloning principle of quantum mechanics offer an unprecedented level of security. By monitoring the entanglement of transmitted photon pairs, the authors detect intrusion attempts with 99.99% probability, and just a 10−9{}^{-9}−9 chance for a false alarm. In contrast, any conventional optical system would fail this test completely.
We report on our development of the fiber-optic quantum seal (FOQS) which will provide highsensitivity detection capabilities for tamper events at bulk storage facilities to enhance safeguards verification efforts.Long-term verification of critical assets in storage facilities for the containment and surveillance mission area must provide material accountancy with assurance of security and continuity of knowledge.As a part of this effort, future monitoring systems may incorporate networked sensors to perform status checks on individual or collection of containers.FOQC enhances current practices by making use of quantum optical probes to enable channel integrity checks and sensor data authentication.Encoded light pulses in the fiber channels will monitor for intrusions while decoding of these pulses will provide data authentication.FOQS consists of an interferometric quantum transceiver which transmits randomly encoded packets of photons over a fiber loop used to seal a container.These photon packets return to the receiver to be decoded for amplitude and phase information.Comparisons of the transmit and receive signals allow for the characterization of the channel.If the comparison shows high degree of correlation, channel integrity and authentication are deemed true, while a lack of correlation triggers an intrusion alarm.The key advantage that FOQS has is that the quantum probes are governed by the uncertainty principle which prevents the intruder from attacking the channel without leaving a trace.This trace will be used to detect the attack attempt.Experimental work will be discussed for the seal development, and theoretical analysis for enhanced security will be presented in the hypothesis-test framework.
The physical layer describes how communication signals are encoded and transmitted across a channel. Physical security often requires either restricting access to the channel or performing periodic manual inspections. In this tutorial, we describe how the field of quantum communication offers new techniques for securing the physical layer. We describe the use of quantum seals as a unique way to test the integrity and authenticity of a communication channel and to provide security for the physical layer. We present the theoretical and physical underpinnings of quantum seals including the quantum optical encoding used at the transmitter and the test for non-locality used at the receiver. We describe how the envisioned quantum physical sublayer senses tampering and how coordination with higher protocol layers allows quantum seals to influence secure routing or tailor data management methods. We conclude by discussing challenges in the development of quantum seals, the overlap with existing quantum key distribution cryptographic services, and the relevance of a quantum physical sublayer to the future of communication security.
We report new results on our development of the fiber-optic quantum seal (FOQS) which will provide high-sensitivity tamper detection capabilities at nuclear facilities to enhance safeguards verification efforts.Long-term verification of critical assets in storage facilities for containment and surveillance must provide material accountancy with continuity of knowledge.As a part of this effort, FOQC will enhance current practices by making use of quantum optical probes to enable fiber-channel integrity checks and sensor data authentication.FOQS consists of an interferometric quantum transceiver which transmits randomly encoded packets of photons over an optical fiber loop used to seal a container.These photon packets return to the receiver to be decoded for field quadrature information.Comparisons of the transmit and receive signals allow for the characterization of the channel.If the comparison shows high degree of correlation, channel integrity and authentication are deemed true, while a lack of correlation triggers an intrusion alarm.The key advantage of the FOQS is that the quantum probes are governed by the uncertainty principle which prevents the intruder from attacking the channel without leaving a trace.We present new results obtained in years two and three of this project, including improvements in the experimental system, automated numerical analysis of obtained experimental data, and extended theoretical analysis of the FOQS sensitivity under realistic conditions.These capabilities increase seal sensitivity and enables detection of data falsification attacks.SNL is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525.SAND2022-XXXX C.