The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and advancements in quantum computing pose security challenges for IoT systems, encompassing classical attacks and quantum attacks. In this work, we concentrate on secure information exchange in the quantum IoT, mainly addressing the problem of establishing direct and secure quantum dialogue between two authorized IoT nodes located at a distance. The nonlocal quantum orthogonal product basis (OPB) is adopted for the first time, to our best knowledge, in a controlled quantum dialogue protocol, which eliminates the need for pre-key sharing or key storage. Through uniquely corresponding operations, private information is encrypted onto the nonlocal OPB, which is transmitted in one way. Compared with entangled states, the OPB is easier to prepare, thus reducing the quantum capability required for IoT nodes. Our approach achieves high transmission efficiency (57.1%) and qubit efficiency (100%) while providing comprehensive security measures that withstand various attacks and effectively prevent information leakage. Furthermore, an OPB-based self-error-correction quantum repeater is proposed to mitigate noise in the communication channel between distant IoT nodes. This repeater requires fewer physical resources compared with repeaters based on entangled states.
The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and advancements in quantum computing pose security challenges for IoT systems, encompassing classical attacks and quantum attacks. In this work, we concentrate on secure information exchange in the quantum IoT, mainly addressing the problem of establishing direct and secure quantum dialogue between two authorized IoT nodes located at a distance. The nonlocal quantum orthogonal product basis (OPB) is adopted for the first time, to our best knowledge, in a controlled quantum dialogue protocol, which eliminates the need for pre-key sharing or key storage. Through uniquely corresponding operations, private information is encrypted onto the nonlocal OPB, which is transmitted in one way. Compared with entangled states, the OPB is easier to prepare, thus reducing the quantum capability required for IoT nodes. Our approach achieves high transmission efficiency (57.1%) and qubit efficiency (100%) while providing comprehensive security measures that withstand various attacks and effectively prevent information leakage. Furthermore, an OPB-based self-error-correction quantum repeater is proposed to mitigate noise in the communication channel between distant IoT nodes. This repeater requires fewer physical resources compared with repeaters based on entangled states.
The rapid proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has revolutionized digital communication, yet it simultaneously poses unprecedented security challenges due to constrained device capabilities and increasing cyber threats. Conventional cryptographic techniques, while currently effective, are vulnerable to emerging quantum computing technologies that threaten to render classical encryption obsolete. This paper explores the integration of quantum-safe cryptographic techniques within IoT networks to ensure long-term confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. It examines post-quantum cryptographic primitives, including lattice-based, hash-based, multivariate, and code-based schemes, and evaluates their suitability for resource-constrained IoT environments. The study focuses on lightweight implementation strategies, balancing computational efficiency with robust security requirements. Simulation analyses demonstrate that properly optimized quantum safe protocols can provide resilient encryption, key exchange, and digital signature functionalities without overwhelming device resources. Furthermore, the integration of these techniques with IoT communication standards and secure network protocols ensures end-to-end protection across heterogeneous networks. Challenges such as latency, energy consumption, and scalability are addressed, highlighting the necessity of tailored cryptographic solutions for diverse IoT applications. The findings confirm that quantum safe cryptography is essential for future-proofing IoT networks, offering sustainable security measures that remain resilient against both classical and quantum adversaries, thereby supporting the continued expansion of secure and intelligent interconnected systems.
Abstract We attempt to propose the first orthogonal-state-based protocols of measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication and quantum dialogue employing single basis, i.e., Bell basis as decoy qubits for eavesdropping detection. Orthogonal-state-based protocols are inherently distinct from conventional conjugate-coding protocols, offering unconditional security derived from the duality and monogamy of entanglement. Noise imposes a major challenge to the efficient implementation of these measurement-device-independent based secure direct quantum communication protocols. Notably, these orthogonal-state-based protocols demonstrate improved performance over conjugate-coding-based protocols under certain noisy environments, highlighting the significance of selecting the best basis choice of decoy qubits for secure quantum communication under collective noise. Further, we rigorously analyze the security of the proposed protocols against various eavesdropping strategies, including intercept-and-resend attack, entangle-and-measure attack, information leakage attack, flip attack, and disturbance or modification attack. Our findings also show that, with appropriate modifications, the proposed orthogonal-state-based measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication protocol can be transformed into orthogonal-state-based measurement-device-independent versions of quantum key distribution and quantum key negotiation protocols, expanding their applicability. Our protocols leverage fundamentally distinct resources to close the security loopholes linked to measurement devices, while also effectively doubling the distance for secure direct message transmission compared to traditional quantum secure direct communication protocols. Additionally, we calculate the efficiency of our proposed protocols and compare them with standard versions of measurement-device-independent quantum secure direct communication protocols. Ultimately, we discuss system and operational complexity of our proposed protocols in light of experimental elements and the processes.
The rapid development and extensive application of the Internet of Things (IoT) have brought new challenges and opportunities to the field of communication. By integrating quantum secure communication with the IoT, we can provide a higher level of security and privacy protection to counteract security threats in the IoT. In this paper, a hybrid quantum communication scheme using six-qubit entangled states as a channel is proposed for specific IoT application scenarios. This scheme achieves hierarchical control of communication protocols on a single quantum channel. In the proposed scheme, device A transmits data to device B through quantum teleportation, while device B issues control commands to device A through remote quantum state preparation technology. These two tasks are controlled by control nodes C and D, respectively. The transmission of information from device A to device B is a relatively less important task, which can be solely controlled by control node C. On the other hand, issuing control commands from device B to device A is a more crucial task requiring joint control from control nodes C and D. This paper describes the proposed scheme and conducts simulation experiments using IBM's Qiskit Aer quantum computing simulator. The results demonstrate that the fidelity of the quantum teleportation protocol (QTP) and the remote state preparation protocol (RSP) reach an impressive value of 0.999, fully validating the scheme's feasibility. Furthermore, the factors affecting the fidelity of the hybrid communication protocol in an IoT environment with specific quantum noise are analyzed. By combining the security of quantum communication with the application scenarios of the IoT, this paper presents a new possibility for IoT communication.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is expanding swiftly, offering ease in everyday life. As the IoT systems produce enormous volumes of data, frequently encompassing private and confidential information, it is imperative to ensure their security. To ensure the security in IoT systems, we present a blockchain-enabled data encryption scheme utilizing quantum computing. This consensus mechanism eliminates the need for outside central service providers and encrypts data and accumulates converted cipher-text using consensus nodes acting as proxy service nodes. This approach alleviates the constraints associated with storing and sharing private encrypted information securely over a decentralized network. The suggested protocol possesses security attributes to counter replay attacks, side-channel attacks, Sybil attacks, and eavesdropping attacks, while mitigating tampering risks through targeted verification. Experimental results demonstrate an accuracy rate of 93.33%, with any discrepancies attributed to quantum device errors. The proposed protocol combines quantum encryption and blockchain-based security to create a scalable, decentralized, and resilient framework for securing IoT data sharing.
Computer networks consist of millions of nodes that need constant protection because of their continued vulnerability to attacks. Classical security methods for protecting such networks will not be effective enough if quantum computers become widespread. On the other hand, we can exploit the capabilities of quantum computing and communications to build a new quantum communication network. In this paper, we focused on enhancing the performance of the classical client–server Internet application. For this sake, we introduced a novel Internet of Things (IoT) quantum network that provides high security and Quality of Service (QoS) compared with the traditional IoT network. This can be achieved by adding quantum components to the traditional IoT network. Quantum counterpart nodes, channels, and servers are used. In order to establish a secure communication between the quantum nodes and the quantum server, we defined a new Communication Procedure (CP) for the suggested IoT quantum network. The currently available quantum computer has a small qubit size (from 50 to 433 qubits). The proposed IoT quantum network allows us to overcome this problem by concatenating the computation efforts of multiple quantum nodes (quantum processors).
With the continuous development of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, the industry's awareness of the security of the IoT is also increasing, and the adoption of quantum communication technology can significantly improve the communication security of various devices in the IoT. This paper proposes a scheme of controlled remote quantum state preparation and quantum teleportation based on multiple communication parties, and a nine-qubit entanglement channel is used to achieve secure communication of multiple devices in the IoT. The channel preparation, measurement operation, and unitary operation of the scheme were successfully simulated on the IBM Quantum platform, and the entanglement degree and reliability of the channel were verified through 8192 shots. The scheme's application in the IoT was analyzed, and the steps and examples of the scheme in the secure communication of multiple devices in the IoT are discussed. By simulating two different attack modes, the effect of the attack on the communication scheme in the IoT was deduced, and the scheme's high security and anti-interference ability was analyzed. Compared with other schemes from the two aspects of principle and transmission efficiency, it is highlighted that the advantages of the proposed scheme are that it overcomes the single fixed one-way or two-way transmission protocol form of quantum teleportation in the past and can realize quantum communication with multiple devices, ensuring both security and transmission efficiency.