Revisiting the security of quantum dialogue and bidirectional quantum secure direct communication

From the perspective of information theory and cryptography, the security of two quantum dialogue protocols and a bidirectional quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) protocol was analyzed, and it was pointed out that the transmitted information would be partly leaked out in them. That is, any eavesdropper can elicit some information about the secrets from the public annunciations of the legal users. This phenomenon should have been strictly forbidden in a quantum secure communication. In fact, this problem exists in quite a few recent proposals and, therefore, it deserves more research attention in the following related study. Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2006AA01Z419), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 90604023 and 60373059), the National Research Foundation for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20040013007), the National Laboratory for Modern Communications Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 9140C1101010601), the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing (Grant No. 4072020) and the ISN Open Foundation