Proximity-based mobile social networks (PMSNs) represent a novel category of social networks that enable mobile users to discover and engage in new social interactions with nearby individuals through user-profile matching. The user’s personal profile contains sensitive information and raises increasing privacy concerns. Numerous solutions have been proposed to address this ongoing challenge, but the current methods using classical cryptographic techniques may lack quantum resistance and fail to ensure long-term security due to the emergence of quantum computers. In this paper, we propose a quantum-secure privacy-preserving profile matching scheme for PMSNs. The proposed scheme is grounded in the quantum threshold private set intersection (QTPSI) scheme, leveraging principles from quantum physics to safeguard the privacy of user profile and ensure secure information transmission, even in the presence of an adversary with powerful quantum computing power. Compared to existing schemes, our approach integrates quantum technologies, including single photons, rotational encryption, and single-particle measurements, to facilitate profile matching. This methodology effectively resists both classical and quantum attacks, ensuring that all information related to the profiles and matching results remains confidential.
Proximity-based mobile social networks (PMSNs) represent a novel category of social networks that enable mobile users to discover and engage in new social interactions with nearby individuals through user-profile matching. The user’s personal profile contains sensitive information and raises increasing privacy concerns. Numerous solutions have been proposed to address this ongoing challenge, but the current methods using classical cryptographic techniques may lack quantum resistance and fail to ensure long-term security due to the emergence of quantum computers. In this paper, we propose a quantum-secure privacy-preserving profile matching scheme for PMSNs. The proposed scheme is grounded in the quantum threshold private set intersection (QTPSI) scheme, leveraging principles from quantum physics to safeguard the privacy of user profile and ensure secure information transmission, even in the presence of an adversary with powerful quantum computing power. Compared to existing schemes, our approach integrates quantum technologies, including single photons, rotational encryption, and single-particle measurements, to facilitate profile matching. This methodology effectively resists both classical and quantum attacks, ensuring that all information related to the profiles and matching results remains confidential.
Mobile social networks (MSNs) enable mobile users to connect, communicate, and share content primarily through mobile devices with other individuals. Profile matching is a crucial service in MSNs, allowing users to select individuals with similar profile attributes. However, the unintended disclosure of user profile information to MSN service providers and other users raises significant concerns regarding security and privacy. Although many proposals have been introduced to address these issues, they overlook the threats posed by powerful quantum computers, resulting in potential vulnerabilities in existing solutions. In this paper, we propose a quantum-secure fine-grained privacypreserving profile matching (QF2PM) scheme for MSNs, which supports finer differentiation among users with similar attributes. Our scheme enables the initiator and candidate to share a secret key with the help of a semi-honest quantum server. We employ rotational encryption and multi-qubit swap tests to achieve profile matching while preventing privacy leakage, even in the face of future quantum threats. In contrast to existing privacy-preserving profile matching schemes, our proposal can withstand both classical and quantum attacks, leveraging quantum technologies such as Bell states, rotational encryption, multi-qubit swap test, and quantum measurement
The Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled ride sharing is one of the most transforming and innovative technologies in the transportation industry. It has myriads of advantages, but with increasing demands there are security concerns as well. Traditionally, cryptographic methods are used to address the security and privacy concerns in a ride sharing system. Unfortunately, due to the emergence of quantum algorithms, these cryptographic protocols may not remain secure. Hence, there is a necessity for privacy-preserving ride sharing protocols which can resist various attacks against quantum computers. In the domain of privacy-preserving ride sharing, a threshold private set intersection (TPSI) can be adopted as a viable solution because it enables the users to determine the intersection of private data sets if the set intersection cardinality is greater than or equal to a threshold value. Although TPSI can help to alleviate privacy concerns, none of the existing TPSI is quantum secure. Furthermore, the existing TPSI faces the issue of long-term security. In contrast to classical and post quantum cryptography, quantum cryptography (QC) provides a more robust solution, where QC is based on the postulates of quantum physics (e.g., Heisenberg uncertainty principle, no cloning theorem, etc.) and it can handle the prevailing issues of quantum threat and long-term security. Herein, we propose the first QC-based TPSI protocol which has a direct application in privacy-preserving ride sharing. Due to the use of QC, our IoT-enabled ride sharing scheme remains quantum secure and achieves long-term security as well.
The advent of quantum computing threatens to undermine current encryption methods significantly, especially those employed in mobile data transmission networks. Quantum algorithms can solve the computational challenges behind present public-key encryption methods like RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) and elliptic curve cryptography at a speedy rate. With mobile communication networks handling more and more sensitive information, the availability of secure authentication methods is increasingly important. This project proposes to investigate how mobile data communication systems can leverage post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) techniques to enhance authentication protocols. The research compares some NIST-standardized post-quantum cryptography candidates, i.e., lattice-based, code-based, hash-based, and multivariate polynomial cryptography, focusing on their usage in mobile environments. We establish a guideline for constructing PQC-improved authentication protocols, focusing on their quantum-resistance, computational cost, and appropriateness for resource-constrained mobile devices. Our analysis proves that the regulations successfully protect information’s secrecy, integrity, and authenticity in the post-quantum era. This has led to the development of future-proof, safe, and resilient mobile communication networks. PQC augmented authentication systems offer good resistance against quantum attacks while supporting acceptable performance on mobile devices, as evidenced by previous research. Mobile communication systems can achieve long-term security through PQC, thus safeguarding user data and critical infrastructure against potential adversaries that might employ quantum computing in the future.
The healthcare pandemic (for instance, the recently ongoing Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic) presented a challenge for researchers to find novel techniques to limit the transmission of the virus. In this context, contact tracing has emerged as an important method to curb the spread of disease. Although it can help combat disease outbreaks, if the contact tracing is executed without careful consideration then it could jeopardize the users’ privacy. The cryptographic technique, private set intersection (PSI) appears to be a logical solution. However, many existing PSI protocols rely on the security of number theory based problems, which are vulnerable in the quantum domain. Therefore, to address this issue we present a PSI protocol (namely qPSI) based on quantum cryptography. The communication and computational costs of existing schemes depend on the universal set size N. In comparison, qPSI requires computational and communication costs, which are independent of the universal set size N. Moreover, the existing Bloom filter based quantum PSI does not provide the exact intersection due to high false positive rate of the Bloom filter of server’s private set, whereas qPSI is not affected by the false positive rate and provides the exact set intersection. In addition, quantum PSI protocols use multi-particle entangled state or N single photons, and complicated oracle operators in N-dimensional Hilbert space. On the other hand, qPSI only utilizes single-photon quantum resources and projective measurements operations over a 2-dimensional Hilbert space. Therefore, qPSI is simple and efficient when compared to other existing PSI protocols in the state-of-the-art.
With the rapid development of IoT technology, securely querying sensitive data collected by devices within a specific range has become a focal concern for users. This paper proposes a privacy-preserving range query scheme based on quantum encryption, along with circuit simulations and performance analysis. We first propose a quantum private set similarity comparison protocol and then construct a privacy-preserving range query scheme for IoT environments. By leveraging the properties of quantum homomorphic encryption, the proposed scheme enables encrypted data comparisons, effectively preventing the leakage of sensitive data. The correctness and security analysis demonstrates that the designed protocol guarantees users receive the correct query results while resisting both external and internal attacks. Moreover, the protocol requires only simple quantum states and operations, and does not require users to bear the cost of complex quantum resources, making it feasible under current technological conditions.
Quantum computing’s potential to upend established cryptographic systems as it develops seriously threatens data security and privacy. With an emphasis on creating cryptographic systems resistant to quantum adversaries, “Quantum secrets: Safeguarding privacy in computational protocols” investigates the relationship between safe computing and quantum physics. This study looks into privacy-preserving quantum algorithms that use concepts like superposition and entanglement to improve security and quantum-safe encryption methods like lattice-based cryptography and quantum key distribution. This research attempts to connect theoretical developments with real-world implementations to give a thorough picture of the developing field of quantum-secure technology. Although quantum computing has the potential to completely transform computing power, privacy and data security are also seriously threatened. Once thought to be impenetrable, classical cryptographic techniques are now susceptible to quantum algorithms like Shor’s and Grover’s, which calls for a paradigm change in how sensitive data is protected. We also discuss recent developments in quantum homomorphic encryption and how they affect safe multi-party computation. In order to ensure privacy and security in the age of quantum supremacy, this article presents a path for incorporating quantum resilience into computing protocols by addressing the theoretical and practical elements of these quantum technologies. In a quantum environment, this study explores quantum cryptographic approaches such secure multi-party computation, post-quantum cryptography, and quantum key distribution. Through establishing a connection between quantum theory and real-world privacy applications, this research attempts to offer a thorough summary of new approaches to protecting private data in the quantum age.