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IEEE Access

Digital key distribution protected by recorded quantum noise

Geraldo A. Barbosa

Published Jan 1, 2024• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A new digital key distribution and encryption system for broad use is presented. It offers affordable perfect security for in-transit digital communications and is quantum-resistant. It uses true random bits generated from vacuum quantum fluctuations in an optical electromagnetic field to protect the bit (key) distribution. This distribution process uses recorded quantum noise and works in any channel or combination of channels. The quantum noise, independently, creates truly random bits and cloaks the transmitted signals. The default encryption, with distilled keys from these transmitted bits, is an automated one-time-pad, with no need for couriers to replenish keys. The level of security is calculated. The coexistence of encryption and quantum computers raises multi-disciplinary problems, theoretical and practical. Challenges exist now, because “harvest now, decrypt later” is increasingly practiced. An answer for a quantum resistant key distribution is Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). It is purely quantum and offers unconditional security. However, many practical and technological aspects plague QKD: it is slow, distance limited, needs quantum channels and is very costly - not for broad commercial use. NIST is starting to offer encryption solutions believed to be quantum-resistant. They are based on deterministic computational complexities. Differently, the security of our solution rests primarily on non-deterministic features.

DOI
10.1109/access.2024.3462530

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A new digital key distribution and encryption system for broad use is presented. It offers affordable perfect security for in-transit digital communications and is quantum-resistant. It uses true random bits generated from vacuum quantum fluctuations in an optical electromagnetic field to protect the bit (key) distribution. This distribution process uses recorded quantum noise and works in any channel or combination of channels. The quantum noise, independently, creates truly random bits and cloaks the transmitted signals. The default encryption, with distilled keys from these transmitted bits, is an automated one-time-pad, with no need for couriers to replenish keys. The level of security is calculated. The coexistence of encryption and quantum computers raises multi-disciplinary problems, theoretical and practical. Challenges exist now, because “harvest now, decrypt later” is increasingly practiced. An answer for a quantum resistant key distribution is Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). It is purely quantum and offers unconditional security. However, many practical and technological aspects plague QKD: it is slow, distance limited, needs quantum channels and is very costly - not for broad commercial use. NIST is starting to offer encryption solutions believed to be quantum-resistant. They are based on deterministic computational complexities. Differently, the security of our solution rests primarily on non-deterministic features.
Quantum key distribution is an innovative technique to distribute encryption keys without compromise. This paper focuses on the application of this technique to achieve reliable communication in an ever-evolving and increasingly vulnerable environment. Designers of cryptosystems have three basic objectives; designing cryptographic algorithms that adequately scramble the target data, developing strong encryption keys to lock and unlock the algorithm, and securely distributing the keys between communicating devices. The advance of quantum computing technologies threatens to expose the world's most prolific key method overnight. Though quantum computing is not yet a reality, the basic principles have been proven in laboratories. Furthermore, quantum computing has been shown to be especially suited for computations of complex mathematic equations; such as distilling the private keys from the public keys used in public key infrastructures (PKI). In this environment, it's comforting to know that the most advanced technology in the broad field of quantum communications just happens to be a new method of creating and distributing encryption keys. This technology is referred to as quantum key distribution (QKD). QKD technologies shift the current paradigm on two plains. The first is that it uses quantum principles, rather than conventional means, for distributing keys between devices. The quantum principles guarantee the key can not be intercepted during transmission without alerting the users of a compromise. The second shift is derived from the fact that encrypted data can not be intercepted today and decrypted at a later date when the computing power exists to crack the code. This shift is dependant on the use of a combination of QKD and one-time pad. Because of the quantum principles that QKD relies on, when a key is successfully created and shared, it can not be cracked using intercepted data. The keys are derived from a convergence of random operations conducted at the sender and receiver stations. Indeed, neither the sender nor the receiver can determine what the key will be until the entire process is completed. As a piece of our security infrastructure, QKD significantly raises our security posture. This paper explains the application of quantum principals used to enable QKD systems.
Among the problems to guarantee secrecy for in-transit information, the difficulties involved in renewing cryptographic keys in a secure way using couriers, the perfect secrecy encryption method known as One-Time-Pad (OTP) became almost obsolete. Pure quantum key distribution (QKD) ideally offers security for key distribution and could revive OTP. However, special networks that may need optical fibers, satellite, relay stations, expensive detection equipment compared with telecom technology and the slow protocol offer powerful obstacles for widespread use of QKD. Classical encryption methods flood the secure communication landscape. Many of them rely its security on historical difficulties such as factoring of large numbers - their alleged security sometimes are presented as the difficulty to brake encryption by brute force. The possibility for a mathematical breakthrough that could make factoring trivial are poorly discussed. This work proposes a solution to bring perfect secrecy to in-transit communication and without the above problems. It shows the key distribution scheme (nicknamed KeyBITS Platform) based on classical signals carrying information but that carry with them recordings of quantum noise. Legitimate users start with a shared information of the coding bases used that gives them an information advantage that allows easy signal recovery. The recorded noise protects the legitimate users and block the attacker's access. This shared information is refreshed at the end of each batch of keys sent providing the secret shared information for the next round. With encryption keys distilled from securely transmitted signals at each round OTP can be revived and at fast speeds.
Abstract Most modern cryptographic mechanisms are often based on the key distribution schemes, the security of which depends on the computational complexity and the power used to break the encryption. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is gaining popularity as a panacea to the issue of secure key distribution due to its ability to show secret keys' information-theoretic protection that is already suitable for commercialization. The goal is to generate a secret key between trusted parties connected through a quantum channel and an authenticated classical channel. The technology promises unconditional secure communication based on the principles of quantum mechanics without limiting the power of an eavesdropper. The first three sections provide a contemporary review of the Quantum Key Distribution in a nutshell. The remaining part of the paper deals with the key parameters and implementations that have been developed to assess the security of the leading experimental platforms and the challenges with respect to the development of this technology such as optimally overlaying the logic gates via quantum-dot cellular automata, which also creates possible avenues for research in the cryptographic domain.
Data protection and information security have been the essence of communication in today's digital era. Authentication and secrecy of secure communication are achieved using key-based cryptographic primitives; the security of which significantly relies upon the underlying computationally complex mathematics. Moreover, these existing cryptographic primitives are considered to be non-deterministic on the basis of the existing computational capabilities. However, the considerable advancements in the development of quantum computers have significantly enhanced parallel computations; thereby, posing a great threat to these existing encryption primitives. Thus, in the future, the physical manifestation of a large successful quantum computer is likely to break all the existing public-key encryption algorithms in no time. This has led to a remarkable surge of interest in propelling quantum mechanics into existence; subsequently, leading cryptographers to research various viable domains to offer quantum-resistant secure communications. Resultantly, quantum cryptography/quantum key distribution has emerged as a futuristic replacement for classical cryptography as it offers unconditionally secure communication along with the inherent detection of any unintended user. Thus, keeping in view the significance of this relatively newer domain of cryptography, this research focuses on presenting a consolidated review of the various Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols. A comparative analysis of the working mechanism of the prominent QKD protocols is presented along with an overview of the various emerging trends that have been proposed to optimize the implementational efficiency of the BB84 protocol.
In this section, I wish to put quantum key distribution (QKD) in the wider context of a cryptosystem. I shall discuss informally some aspects that are considered important. The questions I wish to answer here are: “What are the ingredients needed to make a QKD-based cryptosystem work? What services does it bring? What are its limitations?” As I shall detail below, QKD may be used to provide the users with confidential communications. This can be achieved when we combine QKD and the one-time pad. For the quantum modulation, QKD needs a source of truly random numbers. Also, QKD requires a classical authenticated channel to work, so authentication plays an essential role. As a consequence, QKD must start with a secret key, making it a secret-key encryption scheme. I will also discuss what happens if classical cryptography is introduced in the system. Finally, I will describe the implementation of a simple cryptosystem on top of QKD. A key distribution scheme The first function of QKD is to distribute a secret key between two parties. The use of this key is outside the scope of this first section – the need for a secret key is omnipresent in cryptography. As depicted in Fig. 5.1, QKD relies on a classical authenticated channel for sifting and secret-key distillation and on random bits for the modulation of quantum states. The key produced by QKD can be intended for encryption purposes – this will be discussed in Section 5.2 – but is also required by authentication. A part of the distributed key is used for authentication. When QKD is run for the first time, however, an initial secret key must be used instead.
In today’s digital era, where sensitive data is frequently transmitted over email, ensuring secure communication has become a pressing concern. This paper aims to integrate the principles of quantum cryptography to redefine email security. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) leverages the laws of quantum mechanics to create cryptographic keys that are virtually unbreakable, offering an unprecedented level of protection against modern cyber threats. Historically, email security evolved alongside the rise of the internet. Initial systems lacked robust protection, relying on basic passwords or unencrypted messages. The introduction of Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) marked significant advancements, providing encryption for email content. However, traditional encryption techniques depend heavily on the computational complexity of algorithms, making them vulnerable to advances in processing power, particularly with the advent of quantum computing. Traditional email security systems have several limitations. While methods like TLS and end-to-end encryption mitigate some risks, they cannot guarantee long-term security against quantum-level decryption techniques. The motivation for this paper stems from the need to address these vulnerabilities and enhance trust in digital communication systems. Increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, data breaches, and the potential threats posed by quantum computing have inspired the development of a revolutionary solution that combines quantum cryptography with email systems. The goal is to proactively safeguard sensitive communication against evolving threats, ensuring data integrity and confidentiality. The proposed system integrates QKD to secure email communications. By generating encryption keys based on quantum states, it ensures that any attempt to intercept the keys is detectable. This system also encrypts email content and attachments with these quantum-generated keys, providing enhanced security against interception and decryption attempts. With features like quantum-encrypted file storage and robust authentication mechanisms, this system sets a new standard for email security.