Abstract Semi-quantum private comparison allows multiple ‘classical’ users who have restricted quantum capabilities to compare their private data with the assistance of a quantum third party. In this work, we propose a novel dynamic semi-quantum private comparison protocol using a circular transmission mode along with d-dimensional single-particle states. The protocol enables the comparison of data size relations among several ‘classical’ users, while the third party can only determine the relative sizes without accessing the users’ secret information. Security evaluations demonstrate that the designed protocol withstands typical external and internal attacks. Compared to previous works, this protocol offers several improvements: first, it supports dynamic addition or removal of users, enhancing applicability in practical scenarios; second, it eliminates the need for pre-shared keys, reducing quantum resource consumption; third, it avoids the use of high-dimensional multi-particle entangled states, thereby enhancing the feasibility of implementation. Therefore, the proposed protocol may have more practical potential compared to previous protocols.
Abstract Semi-quantum private comparison allows multiple ‘classical’ users who have restricted quantum capabilities to compare their private data with the assistance of a quantum third party. In this work, we propose a novel dynamic semi-quantum private comparison protocol using a circular transmission mode along with d-dimensional single-particle states. The protocol enables the comparison of data size relations among several ‘classical’ users, while the third party can only determine the relative sizes without accessing the users’ secret information. Security evaluations demonstrate that the designed protocol withstands typical external and internal attacks. Compared to previous works, this protocol offers several improvements: first, it supports dynamic addition or removal of users, enhancing applicability in practical scenarios; second, it eliminates the need for pre-shared keys, reducing quantum resource consumption; third, it avoids the use of high-dimensional multi-particle entangled states, thereby enhancing the feasibility of implementation. Therefore, the proposed protocol may have more practical potential compared to previous protocols.
Abstract An efficient semi-quantum private comparison protocol is proposed with d -dimensional Bell states to assist two classical parties in comparing the size relation of their secret information. With the assistance of a third party (TP), Alice and Bob do not need to measure qubits or prepare new qubits, reducing the consumption of quantum resources. The presented protocol has a higher qubit efficiency than other similar protocols, since the legal participants can compare two bits of privacy (i.e., secret information unknown to others) each time with one qubit. Moreover, the proposed scheme offers a greater advantage when comparing larger private numbers, with the correctness of its outputs verified through analytical methods. Simulation experiments further verified the correctness of the proposed protocol, and security analyses demonstrated its robustness against external and internal attacks. Furthermore, the proposed semi-quantum private comparison protocol can be converted into an efficient semi-quantum key distribution protocol.
Abstract Based on d -dimensional multiparticle maximal entangled states, a novel multi-party private comparison protocol under semi-quantum condition is proposed. With the help of a semi-honest quantum third party, N classical participants can determine the size relationship of their privacies while keeping them private in the devised protocol. Compared with some similar protocols, the presented protocol performs better in terms of security and qubit efficiency. In addition, the effectiveness and the correctness of our protocol are verified with some examples and proofs. By the decoy particles and the pre-shared keys, the presented protocol can defend against the internal and the external attacks.
Abstract Based on Bell states, a new semi-quantum private comparison protocol is proposed that enables two classical users to securely compare the equality of their private information with the aid of a semi-honest third party. Different from the existing semi-quantum private comparison protocols, the two classical participants in the presented protocol do not need to measure and prepare any quantum state, which not only reduces the consumption of quantum devices, but also greatly improves the feasibility of the protocol. Performing different unitary operations on the received particles, classical users can securely compare their secret information. Besides, the devised protocol has higher qubit efficiency than the other similar counterparts, since participants can compare a two-bit privacy each time with one qubit. Meanwhile, after completing the comparison process, all Bell states could be reused since they still retain the corresponding entanglement property, which greatly facilitates the recycle of quantum resources. Security analyses indicate that the designed scheme is secure against external attack and internal attack. Moreover, the operations involved in our scheme are simulated on the IBM Quantum Experience to demonstrate the effectiveness and security of our scheme.
Semi-quantum protocols construct connections between quantum users and ``classical'' users who can only perform certain ``classical'' operations. In this paper, we present a new semi-quantum private comparison protocol based on entangled states and single particles, which does not require pre-shared keys between the ``classical'' users to guarantee the security of their private data. By utilizing multi-particle entangled states and single particles, our protocol can be easily extended to multi-party scenarios to meet the requirements of multiple ``classical'' users who want to compare their private data. The security analysis shows that the protocol can effectively prevent attacks from outside eavesdroppers and adversarial participants. Besides, we generalize the proposed protocol to other semi-quantum protocols such as semi-quantum key agreement, semi-quantum summation, and semi-quantum anonymous ranking protocols. We compare and discuss the proposed protocols with previous similar protocols. The results show that our protocols satisfy the demands of their respective counterparts separately. Therefore, our protocols have a wide range of application scenarios.
Abstract Semi-quantum private comparison (SQPC) is a quantum cryptographic protocol that allows two classical participants to securely determine whether their private inputs are equal, with the assistance of a semi-honest third party possessing full quantum capabilities. However, most existing SQPC protocols suffer from low qubit efficiency and high implementation costs, primarily due to their reliance on pre-shared keys and complex entangled state preparations. To address these limitations, we propose a novel SQPC protocol based on hybrid quantum states, which integrates Bell states and single-qubit states within a circular transmission architecture. The protocol eliminates the requirement for pre-shared keys and reduces consumption of quantum resources by introducing randomness in the placement of quantum states. Security analysis demonstrates that the proposed protocol is robust against measure–resend attacks, entanglement measurement attacks and internal threats from dishonest participants. Furthermore, performance evaluation shows that the proposed protocol achieves a high qubit efficiency, quantified as η = n 10 n + 1 , where n is the number of bits compared. This efficiency surpasses that of several previously proposed SQPC protocols.
Abstract In this paper, we propose two multi-party quantum private comparison protocols based on the properties of the d-dimensional GHZ state. Protocol 1 is designed to compare the equality of multiple participants’ secrets with the help of a semi-honest third party TP. The semi-honest TP will follow the protocol honestly, but he may attempt to learn additional information from the protocol execution. In this protocol, multiple participants encode their secret information into the corresponding particles in turn through unitary operations, thereby achieving the comparison of the equality of their multiple secrets in a single execution. This protocol has a wide range of applications. For example, by combining the basic model framework of this protocol with the Chinese Remainder Theorem, we propose Protocol 2. In this protocol, multiple participants compare the size relationships of their multiple secrets with the help of a semi-honest third party TP. Therefore, based on the same basic model framework, the two protocols proposed in this paper can be applied respectively to the comparison of the equality and the size relationships of multiple participants’ secrets. Importantly, the two protocols do not require pre-shared keys. Security analysis shows that the proposed protocols can resist various attacks, including entangle-measure attack, intercept-resend attack, third party attacks, and participant attacks.