International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science
Quantum Key Distribution and Testing
M. Vijaya kumar, H.Shyamsundar, N.Santhosh kumar, R.Srinivas
Abstract
BBN, Harvard, and Boston University are building the DARPA Quantum Network, the world‘s first network that delivers endto -end network security via high-speed Quantum Key Distribution, and testing that Network against sophisticated eavesdropping attacks. Thefirst network link has been up and steadily operational in our laboratory since December 2002. It provides a Virtual Private Network betweenprivate enclaves, with user traffic protected by a weak-coherent implementation of quantum cryptography. This prototype is suitable fordeployment in metro-size areas via standard telecom (dark) fiber. In this paper, we introduce quantum cryptography, discuss its relation tomodern secure networks, and describe its unusual physical layer, its specialized quantum cryptographic protocol suite (quite interesting in itsown right), and our extensions to IPsec to integrate it with quantum cryptography. Keywords: Quantum cryptography. Quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution, secure networks, cryptographic protocols, keyagreement protocols, error correction, privacy amplification, IPsec.