Cryptanalysis of quantum broadcast communication and authentication protocol with a one-time pad

Chang et al.[Chin.Phys.623 010305(2014)]have proposed a quantum broadcast communication and authentication protocol.However,we find that an intercept-resend attack can be preformed successfully by a potential eavesdropper,who will be able to destroy the authentication function.Afterwards,he or she can acquire the secret transmitted message or even modify it while escaping detection,by implementing an efficient man-in-the-middle attack.Furthermore,we show a simple scheme to defend this attack,that is,applying non-reusable identity strings.     

Cryptanalysis and improvement of quantum broadcast communication and authentication protocol with a quantum one-time pad

The security of quantum broadcast communication(QBC) and authentication protocol based on Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger(GHZ) state and quantum one-time pad is analyzed. It is shown that there are some security issues in this protocol.Firstly, an external eavesdropper can take the intercept–measure–resend attack strategy to eavesdrop on 0.369 bit of every bit of the identity string of each receiver without being detected. Meanwhile, 0.524 bit of every bit of the secret message can be eavesdropped on without being detected. Secondly, an inner receiver can take the intercept–measure–resend attack strategy to eavesdrop on half of the identity string of the other's definitely without being checked. In addition, an alternative attack called the CNOT-operation attack is discussed. As for the multi-party QBC protocol, the attack efficiency increases with the increase of the number of users. Finally, the QBC protocol is improved to a secure one.     

Deterministic Secure Quantum Communication and Authentication Protocol based on Extended GHZ-W State and Quantum One-time Pad

A deterministic secure quantum communication and authentication protocol based on extended GHZ-W state and quantum one-time pad is proposed. In the protocol, state |φ^?〉 is used as the carrier. One photon of |φ^?〉 state is sent to Alice, and Alice obtains a random key by measuring photons with bases determined by ID. The information of bases is secret to others except Alice and Bob. Extended GHZ-W states are used as decoy photons, the positions of which in information sequence are encoded with identity string ID of the legal user, and the eavesdropping detection rate reaches 81%. The eavesdropping detection based on extended GHZ-W state combines with authentication and the secret ID ensures the security of the protocol.     

Cryptanalysis and improvement of controlled secure direct communication

This paper points out that, due to a flaw in the sender＇s encoding, the receiver in Gao et al.＇s controlled quantum secret direct communication （CQSDC） protocol [Chin. Phys. 14 （2005）, No. 5, p. 893] can reveal the whole secret message without permission from the controller. An improvement is proposed to avoid this flaw.     

An efficient deterministic secure quantum communication scheme based on cluster states and identity authentication

A novel efficient deterministic secure quantum communication scheme based on four-qubit cluster states and single-photon identity authentication is proposed. In this scheme, the two authenticated users can transmit two bits of classical information per cluster state, and its efficiency of the quantum communication is 1/3, which is approximately 1.67 times that of the previous protocol presented by Wang et al [Chin. Phys. Lett. 23 (2006) 2658]. Security analysis shows the present scheme is secure against intercept-resend attack and the impersonator's attack. Furthermore, it is more economic with present-day techniques and easily processed by a one-way quantum computer.     

Economical multiparty simultaneous quantum identity authentication based on Greenberger--Horne--Zeilinger states

A multiparty simultaneous quantum identity authentication protocol based on Greenberger--Horne--Zeilinger (GHZ) states is proposed. The multi-user can be authenticated by a trusted third party (TTP) simultaneously. Compared with the scheme proposed recently (Wang et al 2006, Chin. Phys. Lett. 23(9) 2360), the proposed scheme has the advantages of consuming fewer quantum and classical resources and lessening the difficulty and intensity of necessary operations.     

High Efficiency of Two Efficient QSDC with Authentication Is at the Cost of Their Security

Two efficient protocols of quantum secure direct communication with authentication [Chin. Phys. Lett. 25 （2008） 2354] were recently proposed by Liu et al. to improve the efficiency of two protocols presented in [Phys. Rev. A 75 （2007） 026301] by four Pauli operations. We show that the high efficiency of the two protocols is at the expense of their security. The authenticator Trent can reach half the secret by a particular attack strategy in the first protocol. In the second protocol, not only Trent but also an eavesdropper outside can elicit half-information about the secret from the public declaration.     

Cryptanalysis of Controlled Mutual Quantum Entity Authentication Using Entanglement Swapping

By using GHZ-like states and entanglement swapping, Kang et al. [Chin. Phys. B 24(2015) 090306]proposed a controlled mutual quantum entity authentication protocol. We find that the proposed protocol is not secure,that is, the center, Charlie can eavesdrop the secret keys shared between Alice and Bob without being detected.     

利用纠缠GHZ态实现受控的量子确定性安全通讯(英文)

提出一个受控的量子确定性安全通信方案,在通信过程中,纠缠GHZ态用作量子信道,秘密信息的编码和破解是通过受控的量子纠缠交换和局域酉变换实现的.此方案是安全的.关于此方案安全性的证明和两步方案[Phys.Rev.A 68 042317]的安全性是一样的.此方案也可以推广到有多方控制者参与的情形.     

Improvement on Quantum Secure Direct Communication with W State in Noisy Channel

An improvement （Y-protocol） [Commun. Theor. Phys. 49 （2008） 103] on the quantum secure direct communication with W state （C-protocol） [Chin. Phys. Lett. 23 （2006） 290] is proposed by Yuan et al. The quantum bit error rate induced by eavesdropper is 4.17% in C-protocol and 6.25% in Y-protocoL In this paper, another improvement on C-protocol is given. The quantum bit error rate of the eavesdropping will increase to 8.75%, which is 1.1 times larger than that in C-protocol and 0.4 times larger than that in Y-protocol.     

Multi-Bit Quantum Private Query

Most of the existing Quantum Private Queries (QPQ) protocols provide only single-bit queries service, thus have to be repeated several times when more bits are retrieved. Wei et al.'s scheme for block queries requires a high-dimension quantum key distribution system to sustain, which is still restricted in the laboratory. Here, based on Markus Jakobi et al.'s single-bit QPQ protocol, we propose a multi-bit quantum private query protocol, in which the user can get access to several bits within one single query. We also extend the proposed protocol to block queries, using a binary matrix to guard database security. Analysis in this paper shows that our protocol has better communication complexity, implementability and can achieve a considerable level of security.     

量子直接通信

量子直接通信是量子通信中的一个重要分支, 它是一种不需要事先建立密钥而直接传输机密信息的新型通信模式. 本综述将介绍量子直接通信的基本原理, 回顾量子直接通信的发展历程, 从最早的高效量子直接通信协议、两步量子直接通信模型、量子一次一密直接通信模型等, 到抗噪声的量子直接通信模型以及基于单光子多自由度量子态及超纠缠态的量子直接通信模型, 最后介绍量子直接通信的研究现状并展望其发展未来.     

Cryptanalysis of Controlled Quantum Secure Direct Communication and Authentication Protocol Based on Five-Particle Cluster State and Quantum One-Time Pad

A new attack strategy, the so-called intercept-selectively-measure-resend attack is put forward. It shows that there are some security issues in the controlled quantum secure direct communication (CQSDC) and authentication protocol based on five-particle cluster states and quantum one-time pad. Firstly, an eavesdropper (Eve) can use this attack to eavesdrop on 0.656 bit of every bit of the identity string of the receiver and 1.406 bits of every couple of the corresponding bits of the secret message without being detected. Also, she can eavesdrop on 0.311 bit of every bit of the identity string of the controller. Secondly, the receiver can also take this attack to obtain 1.311 bits of every couple of the corresponding bits of the secret message without the permission of the controller, which is not allowed in the CQSDC protocols. In fact, there is another security issue in this protocol, that is, one half of the information about the secret is leaked out unconsciously. In addition, an alternative attack strategy which is called as the selective-CNOT-operation attack strategy to attack this protocol is discussed.     

Efficient quantum secret sharing scheme with two-particle entangled states

This paper proposes a protocol for multi-party quantum secret sharing utilizing four non-orthogonal two-particle entangled states following some ideas in the schemes proposed by Liu et al. (2006 Chin. Phys. Lett. 23 3148) and Zhang et al. (2009 Chin. Phys. B 18 2149) respectively. The theoretical efficiency for qubits of the new protocol is improved from 50% to approaching 100%. All the entangled states can be used for generating the private key except those used for the eavesdropping check. The validity of a probable attack called opaque cheat attack to this kind of protocols is considered in the paper for the first time.     

Quantum Secure Communication Scheme with W State

We present a quantum secure communication scheme using three-qubit W state. It is unnecessary for the present scheme to use alternative measurement or Bell basis measurement. Compared with the quantum secure direct communication scheme proposed by Cao et at. [H.J. Cao and H.S. Song, Chin. Phys. Lett. 23 （2006） 290], in our scheme, the detection probability for an eavesdropper＇s attack increases from 8.3% to 25%. We also show that our scheme is secure for a noise quantum channel.     

Robust general N user authentication scheme in a centralized quantum communication network via generalized GHZ states

Quantum communication provides an enormous advantage over its classical counterpart: security of communications based on the very principles of quantum mechanics. Researchers have proposed several approaches for user identity authentication via entanglement. Unfortunately, these protocols fail because an attacker can capture some of the particles in a transmitted sequence and send what is left to the receiver through a quantum channel. Subsequently, the attacker can restore some of the confidential messages, giving rise to the possibility of information leakage. Here we present a new robust General Nuser authentication protocol based on N-particle Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states, which makes eavesdropping detection more effective and secure, as compared to some current authentication protocols. The security analysis of our protocol for various kinds of attacks verifies that it is unconditionally secure, and that an attacker will not obtain any information about the transmitted key. Moreover, as the number of transferred key bits N becomes larger, while the number of users for transmitting the information is increased, the probability of effectively obtaining the transmitted authentication keys is reduced to zero.     

Efficient quantum secure communication with a publicly known key

This paper presents a simple way for an eavesdropper to eavesdrop freely the secret message in the experimental realization of quantum communication protocol proposed by Beige et al （2002 Acta Phys. Pol. A 101 357）. Moreover, it introduces an efficient quantum secure communication protocol based on a publicly known key with decoy photons and two biased bases by modifying the original protocol. The total efficiency of this new protocol is double that of the original one. With a low noise quantum channel, this protocol can be used for transmitting a secret message. At present, this protocol is good for generating a private key efficiently,     

Cryptanalysis and Improvement of Quantum Private Comparison Protocol Based on Bell Entangled States

Recently, Liu et al. [Commun. Theor. Phys. 57(2012) 583] proposed a quantum private comparison protocol based on entanglement swapping of Bell states, which aims to securely compare the equality of two participants' information with the help of a semi-honest third party(TP). However, the present study points out there is a fatal loophole in Liu et al.'s protocol, and TP can make Bell-basis measurement to know all the participants' secret inputs without being detected. To fix the problem, a simple solution, which uses one-time eavesdropper checking with decoy photons instead of twice eavesdropper checking with Bell states, is demonstrated. Compared with the original protocol,it not only reduces the Bell states consumption but also simplifies the protocol steps.     

Cryptanalysis and Improvement of Quantum Private Comparison Protocol Based on Bell Entangled States

Recently, Liu et al. [Commun. Theor. Phys. 57 (2012) 583] proposed a quantum private comparison protocol based on entanglement swapping of Bell states, which aims to securely compare the equality of two participants' information with the help of a semi-honest third party (TP). However, the present study points out there is a fatal loophole in Liu et al.'s protocol, and TP can make Bell-basis measurement to know all the participants' secret inputs without being detected. To fix the problem, a simple solution, which uses one-time eavesdropper checking with decoy photons instead of twice eavesdropper checking with Bell states, is demonstrated. Compared with the original protocol, it not only reduces the Bell states consumption but also simplifies the protocol steps.     

New deterministic quantum communication via symmetric W state

In 2006, Xue et al. [Chin. Phys. 15, 1421] proposed a dense coding on the symmetric W state to establish a deterministic quantum communication (DQC) protocol. In the dense coding, however, the encoded message can be recovered with a 67% probability. Therefore, within one execution of their protocol, the sender can only successfully transmit 67% of information to the receiver. The same protocol has to be repeated several times before a message is fully transmitted. The purpose of this study is to propose a novel coding function of the symmetric W state for constructing a DQC protocol which can fully transmit the message within one execution of DQC. Furthermore, the security of the protocol is analyzed to show that any eavesdropper will be detected with a very high probability if he/she attempts to steal any information.