Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physica Scripta

Delegated quantum neural networks for encrypted data

W. H. Sun, Yan Chang, Danchen Wang, Shibin Zhang, Lili Yan

Published Mar 29, 2024• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Quantum machine learning is expected to utilize the potential advantages of quantum computing to advance the efficiency of machine learning. However, with the help of quantum cloud servers, ordinary users may confront the threat of privacy leakage of input data and models when performing the training or inference of quantum neural networks (QNNs). To address this problem, we present a new framework that allows the training and inference of delegated QNNs to be performed on encrypted data to protect the privacy of users’ data and models. This framework contains two models that are alternately trained: an encryptor and a predictor. The classical client first trains the encryptor defined by a classical neural network to map plaintext input data to vastly different ciphertext data. The ciphertext data is sent to the quantum cloud server to train the predictor defined by a QNN, which can indirectly predict the labels of plaintext data. With the trained encryptor and predictor, the client can send the encrypted data to the server for prediction and obtain almost equivalent prediction results. The proposed framework is applied to three types of QNN models, each dealing with low-dimensional tabular data, image data, and one-dimensional time series data, respectively. Experimental results show that the privacy protection method based on our framework can protect data and model privacy without degrading the performance of QNNs. The framework does not require users to have quantum capabilities and is suitable for protecting data and model privacy for various QNN models.

DOI
10.1088/1402-4896/ad348f

Related papers

Hybrid quantum–classical convolutional neural networks with privacy quantum computing

Siwei Huang, Yan Chang, Yu‐Sheng Lin +1 more

Abstract Machine learning algorithms help us discover knowledge from big data. Data used for training or prediction often contain private information about users. Discovering knowledge while protecting data or user privacy is the way machine learning is expected, especially in the cloud environment. Quantum machine learning is a kind of machine learning that realizes parallel acceleration by quantum superposition. Quantum computing power for quantum machine learning is typically provided by quantum cloud computing services. Existing quantum machine learning algorithms hardly consider privacy protection. This paper presents an encryption method for image data which can effectively protect the input data privacy in hybrid quantum–classical convolutional neural networks algorithm. The user’s original image data is first encrypted, and then sent to the quantum cloud to calculate the image convolution. By doing so, the feature map of the ciphertext image is obtained by the user. The result obtained by decrypting the feature map is the same as that obtained by using the original image as the input of convolution calculation. Experiments show that our privacy protection scheme can protect the privacy of input image data in the hybrid quantum–classical neural networks algorithm, but does not affect the accuracy of the algorithm. In addition to image encryption and feature map decryption, the proposed scheme does not bring additional computational complexity.

Quantum Science and Technology•Feb 6, 2023•21 citations

Reverse Delegated Training and Private Inference via Perfectly-Secure Quantum Homomorphic Encryption

Sergio A. Ortega, Miguel A. Martin-Delgado

Quantum machine learning in cloud environments requires protecting sensitive data while enabling remote computation. Here we demonstrate the first realistic implementations of a perfectly-secure quantum homomorphic encryption (QHE) scheme applied to quantum neural networks (QNN). Using efficient Clifford+$T$ decomposition, we implement quantum convolutional neural networks for two complementary scenarios: (i) reverse delegated training, where encrypted data from multiple providers trains a user's network via federated aggregation; (ii) private inference, where users process encrypted data with remote quantum networks. Moreover, analysis of server circuit privacy reveals probabilistic model protection through Pauli gate concealment. These results establish perfectly-secure QHE as a practical framework for multi-party quantum machine learning.

quant-pharXiv:2602.12712•Feb 16, 2026•0 citations

Quantum neural network with privacy protection of input data and training parameters

Cheng Fang, Yan Chang

Abstract It takes a lot of computational resources to train a machine learning model. So does quantum machine learning. In the NISQ (Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum) era, there is a need for users who cannot afford quantum computers to utilize quantum servers to complete quantum machine learning with protection privacy of data and model parameters. In this paper, novel homomorphic encryption methods and circuit design with hidden parameter for R z , R x and R y gate are putting forward. Based on which, we further propose quantum neural network (QNN) with privacy protection of input data and training parameters, where hiding model parameters has hardly mentioned in existing literature. To verify the validity of the proposed scheme, we conducted experiments on MNIST and Iris datasets, and obtained losses and accuracy that are almost identical to the original algorithms. Experiments show that our scheme can protect privacy well in the training and have no effect on accuracy of the algorithm. By comparison, the proposed scheme is more secure than most existing literature and requires less extra complexity O(4n).

Physica Scripta•Feb 12, 2024•3 citations

Quantum delegated and federated learning via quantum homomorphic encryption

Weikang Li, Dong‐Ling Deng

Abstract Quantum learning models hold the potential to bring computational advantages over the classical realm. As powerful quantum servers become available on the cloud, ensuring the protection of clients’ private data becomes crucial. By incorporating quantum homomorphic encryption schemes, we present a general framework that enables quantum delegated and federated learning with a computation-theoretical data privacy guarantee. We show that learning and inference under this framework feature substantially lower communication complexity compared with schemes based on blind quantum computing. In addition, in the proposed quantum federated learning scenario, there is less computational burden on local quantum devices from the client side, since the server can operate on encrypted quantum data without extracting any information. We further prove that certain quantum speedups in supervised learning carry over to private delegated learning scenarios employing quantum kernel methods. Our results provide a valuable guide toward privacy-guaranteed quantum learning on the cloud, which may benefit future studies and security-related applications.

arXiv:2409.19359•Research Directions Quantum Technologies•Jan 1, 2025•7 citations

CryptoQFL: Quantum Federated Learning on Encrypted Data

Cheng Chu, Lei Jiang, Fan Chen

Recent advancements in Quantum Neural Networks (QNNs) have demonstrated theoretical and experimental performance superior to their classical counterparts in a wide range of applications. However, existing centralized QNNs cannot solve many real-world problems because collecting large amounts of training data to a common public site is time-consuming and, more importantly, violates data privacy. Federated Learning (FL) is an emerging distributed machine learning framework that allows collaborative model training on decentralized data residing on multiple devices without breaching data privacy. Some initial attempts at Quantum Federated Learning (QFL) either only focus on improving the QFL performance or rely on a trusted quantum server that fails to preserve data privacy. In this work, we propose CryptoQFL, a QFL framework that allows distributed QNN training on encrypted data. CryptoQFL is (1) secure, because it allows each edge to train a QNN with local private data, and encrypt its updates using quantum homomorphic encryption before sending them to the central quantum server; (2) communication-efficient, as CryptoQFL quantize local gradient updates to ternary values, and only communicate non-zero values to the server for aggregation; and (3) computation-efficient, as CryptoQFL presents an efficient quantum aggregation circuit with significantly reduced latency compared to state-of-the-art approaches.

arXiv:2307.07012•IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE)•Sep 17, 2023•22 citations

Quantum neural network classifier with differential privacy

Guodong Li, Fangce Yu, Qingle Wang +3 more

Abstract Quantum neural networks (QNN) hold the potential for quantum advantages but are confronted with privacy leakage risks that could undermine users’ benefits. To address this issue, we propose an enhanced QNN model integrated with differential privacy. After converting classical data into quantum states using encoding circuit, we apply data re-uploading technology to embed the encoding circuit multiple times into the overall circuit. The classification outcomes are derived by measuring the final quantum state. During the optimization process of QNN, we introduce Gaussian noise into the gradient of the loss function to ensure differential privacy. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that in differential privacy settings, the model effectively protects privacy while demonstrating good performance. Our experimental analysis demonstrates that on four standard datasets, our model achieves the same accuracy as classical neural network (NN) while utilizing only 22% of the parameters of NN, and exhibiting lower performance loss compared to other QNN.

Physica Scripta•Feb 4, 2025•2 citations
Abstract Quantum machine learning is expected to utilize the potential advantages of quantum computing to advance the efficiency of machine learning. However, with the help of quantum cloud servers, ordinary users may confront the threat of privacy leakage of input data and models when performing the training or inference of quantum neural networks (QNNs). To address this problem, we present a new framework that allows the training and inference of delegated QNNs to be performed on encrypted data to protect the privacy of users’ data and models. This framework contains two models that are alternately trained: an encryptor and a predictor. The classical client first trains the encryptor defined by a classical neural network to map plaintext input data to vastly different ciphertext data. The ciphertext data is sent to the quantum cloud server to train the predictor defined by a QNN, which can indirectly predict the labels of plaintext data. With the trained encryptor and predictor, the client can send the encrypted data to the server for prediction and obtain almost equivalent prediction results. The proposed framework is applied to three types of QNN models, each dealing with low-dimensional tabular data, image data, and one-dimensional time series data, respectively. Experimental results show that the privacy protection method based on our framework can protect data and model privacy without degrading the performance of QNNs. The framework does not require users to have quantum capabilities and is suitable for protecting data and model privacy for various QNN models.
Abstract Machine learning algorithms help us discover knowledge from big data. Data used for training or prediction often contain private information about users. Discovering knowledge while protecting data or user privacy is the way machine learning is expected, especially in the cloud environment. Quantum machine learning is a kind of machine learning that realizes parallel acceleration by quantum superposition. Quantum computing power for quantum machine learning is typically provided by quantum cloud computing services. Existing quantum machine learning algorithms hardly consider privacy protection. This paper presents an encryption method for image data which can effectively protect the input data privacy in hybrid quantum–classical convolutional neural networks algorithm. The user’s original image data is first encrypted, and then sent to the quantum cloud to calculate the image convolution. By doing so, the feature map of the ciphertext image is obtained by the user. The result obtained by decrypting the feature map is the same as that obtained by using the original image as the input of convolution calculation. Experiments show that our privacy protection scheme can protect the privacy of input image data in the hybrid quantum–classical neural networks algorithm, but does not affect the accuracy of the algorithm. In addition to image encryption and feature map decryption, the proposed scheme does not bring additional computational complexity.
Quantum machine learning in cloud environments requires protecting sensitive data while enabling remote computation. Here we demonstrate the first realistic implementations of a perfectly-secure quantum homomorphic encryption (QHE) scheme applied to quantum neural networks (QNN). Using efficient Clifford+TTT decomposition, we implement quantum convolutional neural networks for two complementary scenarios: (i) reverse delegated training, where encrypted data from multiple providers trains a user's network via federated aggregation; (ii) private inference, where users process encrypted data with remote quantum networks. Moreover, analysis of server circuit privacy reveals probabilistic model protection through Pauli gate concealment. These results establish perfectly-secure QHE as a practical framework for multi-party quantum machine learning.
Abstract It takes a lot of computational resources to train a machine learning model. So does quantum machine learning. In the NISQ (Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum) era, there is a need for users who cannot afford quantum computers to utilize quantum servers to complete quantum machine learning with protection privacy of data and model parameters. In this paper, novel homomorphic encryption methods and circuit design with hidden parameter for R z , R x and R y gate are putting forward. Based on which, we further propose quantum neural network (QNN) with privacy protection of input data and training parameters, where hiding model parameters has hardly mentioned in existing literature. To verify the validity of the proposed scheme, we conducted experiments on MNIST and Iris datasets, and obtained losses and accuracy that are almost identical to the original algorithms. Experiments show that our scheme can protect privacy well in the training and have no effect on accuracy of the algorithm. By comparison, the proposed scheme is more secure than most existing literature and requires less extra complexity O(4n).
Abstract Quantum learning models hold the potential to bring computational advantages over the classical realm. As powerful quantum servers become available on the cloud, ensuring the protection of clients’ private data becomes crucial. By incorporating quantum homomorphic encryption schemes, we present a general framework that enables quantum delegated and federated learning with a computation-theoretical data privacy guarantee. We show that learning and inference under this framework feature substantially lower communication complexity compared with schemes based on blind quantum computing. In addition, in the proposed quantum federated learning scenario, there is less computational burden on local quantum devices from the client side, since the server can operate on encrypted quantum data without extracting any information. We further prove that certain quantum speedups in supervised learning carry over to private delegated learning scenarios employing quantum kernel methods. Our results provide a valuable guide toward privacy-guaranteed quantum learning on the cloud, which may benefit future studies and security-related applications.
Recent advancements in Quantum Neural Networks (QNNs) have demonstrated theoretical and experimental performance superior to their classical counterparts in a wide range of applications. However, existing centralized QNNs cannot solve many real-world problems because collecting large amounts of training data to a common public site is time-consuming and, more importantly, violates data privacy. Federated Learning (FL) is an emerging distributed machine learning framework that allows collaborative model training on decentralized data residing on multiple devices without breaching data privacy. Some initial attempts at Quantum Federated Learning (QFL) either only focus on improving the QFL performance or rely on a trusted quantum server that fails to preserve data privacy. In this work, we propose CryptoQFL, a QFL framework that allows distributed QNN training on encrypted data. CryptoQFL is (1) secure, because it allows each edge to train a QNN with local private data, and encrypt its updates using quantum homomorphic encryption before sending them to the central quantum server; (2) communication-efficient, as CryptoQFL quantize local gradient updates to ternary values, and only communicate non-zero values to the server for aggregation; and (3) computation-efficient, as CryptoQFL presents an efficient quantum aggregation circuit with significantly reduced latency compared to state-of-the-art approaches.
Abstract Quantum neural networks (QNN) hold the potential for quantum advantages but are confronted with privacy leakage risks that could undermine users’ benefits. To address this issue, we propose an enhanced QNN model integrated with differential privacy. After converting classical data into quantum states using encoding circuit, we apply data re-uploading technology to embed the encoding circuit multiple times into the overall circuit. The classification outcomes are derived by measuring the final quantum state. During the optimization process of QNN, we introduce Gaussian noise into the gradient of the loss function to ensure differential privacy. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that in differential privacy settings, the model effectively protects privacy while demonstrating good performance. Our experimental analysis demonstrates that on four standard datasets, our model achieves the same accuracy as classical neural network (NN) while utilizing only 22% of the parameters of NN, and exhibiting lower performance loss compared to other QNN.