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OptoElectronics and Communications Conference and International Conference on Photonics in Switching and Computing (OECC/PSC)

Security and Availability of Quantum Key Distribution Networks

Mario Wenning, Carmen Mas Machuca

Published Jun 29, 2025• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We apply secret-sharing to QKD networks with trusted nodes. Depending on the threshold and the path diversity, we trade off the availability and security of end-to-end keys to allow operators customized service levels.
DOI
10.23919/oecc/psc62146.2025.11109996

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Quantum key distribution (QKD) can protect the exchange process of confidential information between communicating parties. By using the basic principles of quantum mechanics and combined with “one-time pad” cipher encryption, information can be unconditionally secure. The BB84 protocol first describes the method of transmitting information by photon polarization state, and it expounds the transmission process of services between trusted relays. However, due to the defects of real experimental devices, there are security vulnerabilities in QKD in a real system. The birth of measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocol solves the problem, providing immunity to hacker attacks at the end of the detector. It can enable both sides of the transmission service to establish a connection and generate secret keys through an untrusted relay node to ensure information security. However, the types and properties of link nodes in quantum key distribution network (QKDN) based on partially trusted relay are more complex, which can easily result in network fault. Therefore, how to prevent the impact of failure on QKDN has become an urgent problem. In this paper, we propose a protection scheme for QKDN with partially trusted relays. The method deals with trusted and untrusted relays differently and constructs the working and protection paths of the secret key for each service. It reduces resource conflict between the protection and working paths by establishing a key protection threshold, which realizes the resource trade-off between the two factors. Simulation results show that the scheme provides effective protection to the services, and it improves the stability and reliability of QKDN based on partially trusted relay.
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