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arXiv:quant-ph/0310144 · Physical Review A

Quantum cryptography: Security criteria reexamined

Dagomir Kaszlikowski, Ajay Gopinathan, Yeong-Cherng Liang, L. C. Kwek, Berthold‐Georg Englert

Published Sep 8, 2004• 12 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We find that the generally accepted security criteria are flawed for a whole class of protocols for quantum cryptography. This is so because a standard assumption of the security analysis, namely that the so-called square-root measurement is optimal for eavesdropping purposes, is not true in general. There are rather large parameter regimes in which the optimal measurement extracts substantially more information than the square-root measurement.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.70.032306

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We find that the generally accepted security criteria are flawed for a whole class of protocols for quantum cryptography. This is so because a standard assumption of the security analysis, namely that the so-called square-root measurement is optimal for eavesdropping purposes, is not true in general. There are rather large parameter regimes in which the optimal measurement extracts substantially more information than the square-root measurement.
We present a protocol for quantum cryptography in which the data obtained for mismatched bases are used in full for the purpose of quantum state tomography. Eavesdropping on the quantum channel is seriously impeded by requiring that the outcome of the tomography is consistent with unbiased noise in the channel. We study the incoherent eavesdropping attacks that are still permissible and establish under which conditions a secure cryptographic key can be generated. The whole analysis is carried out for channels that transmit quantum systems of any finite dimension.
An attempt to eavesdrop on a quantum cryptographic channel reveals itself through errors it inevitably introduces into the transmission. We investigate the relationship between the induced error rate and the maximum amount of information the eavesdropper can extract, in both the two-state B92 [B92 refers to the work of C. H. Bennett, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 3121 (1992)] and the four-state BB84 [BB84 refers to the work of C. H. Bennett and G. Brassard, in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computers, Systems, and Signal Processing, Bangalore, India (IEEE, New York, 1984), pp. 175--179] quantum cryptographic protocols. In each case, the optimal eavesdropping method that on average yields the most information for a given error rate is explicitly constructed. Analysis is limited to eavesdropping strategies where each bit of the quantum transmission is attacked individually and independently from other bits. Subject to this restriction, however, we believe that all attacks not forbidden by physical laws are covered. Unlike previous work, the eavesdropper's advantage is measured in terms of Renyi (rather than Shannon) information, and with respect only to bits received error-free by Bob (rather than all bits). This alters both the maximum extractable information and the optimal eavesdropping attack. The result can be used directly at the privacy amplification stage of the protocol to accomplish secure communication over a noisy channel.
Quantum cryptography uses techniques and ideas from physics and computer science. The combination of these ideas makes the security proofs of quantum cryptography a complicated task. To prove that a quantum-cryptography protocol is secure, assumptions are made about the protocol and its devices. If these assumptions are not justified in an implementation then an eavesdropper may break the security of the protocol. Therefore, security is crucially dependent on which assumptions are made and how justified the assumptions are in an implementation of the protocol. This thesis is primarily a review that analyzes and clarifies the connection between the security proofs of quantum-cryptography protocols and their experimental implementations. In particular, we focus on quantum key distribution: the task of distributing a secret random key between two parties. We provide a comprehensive introduction to several concepts: quantum mechanics using the density operator formalism, quantum cryptography, and quantum key distribution. We define security for quantum key distribution and outline several mathematical techniques that can either be used to prove security or simplify security proofs. In addition, we analyze the assumptions made in quantum cryptography and how they may or may not be justified in implementations. Along with the review, we propose a framework that decomposes quantum-key-distribution protocols and their assumptions into several classes. Protocol classes can be used to clarify which proof techniques apply to which kinds of protocols. Assumption classes can be used to specify which assumptions are justified in implementations and which could be exploited by an eavesdropper. Two contributions of the author are discussed: the security proofs of two two-way quantum-key-distribution protocols and an intuitive proof of the data-processing inequality.
So far, the knowledge of Eve has been modeled by a classical random variable. The aim of this chapter is first to discuss how the previous results apply to QKD, where Eve's action may not necessarily be classically described by the random variable Z . Then, we explain the equivalence between BB84 and so-called entanglement purification protocols as a tool to encompass general eavesdropping strategies. Finally, we apply this equivalence to the case of the coherent-state protocol GG02. Eavesdropping strategies and secret-key distillation In Chapters 10 and 11, I analyzed the security of the protocols with regard to individual eavesdropping strategies only. In this particular case, the result of Alice's, Bob's and Eve's measurements can be described classically and the results of Section 6.4 apply. Let us review other kinds of eavesdropping strategies and discuss how the concepts of Chapter 6 can be applied. Note that the individual eavesdropping strategy, the simplest class of strategies, is still technologically very challenging to achieve today in an optimal way. Nevertheless, we do not want the security of quantum cryptography to rely only on technological barriers. By considering more general eavesdropping strategies, we make sure quantum cryptography lies on strong grounds. Following Gisin et al. [64], we divide the possible eavesdropping strategies into three categories: individual attacks, collective attacks and joint attacks .