Information-Theoretic Security for the Masses

We combine interactive zero-knowledge protocols and weak physical layer randomness properties to construct a protocol which allows bootstrapping an IT-secure and PF-secure channel from a memorizable shared secret. The protocol also tolerates failures of its components, still preserving most of its security properties, which makes it accessible to regular users.Comment: 4 page

Techniques for Enhanced Physical-Layer Security

Information-theoretic security--widely accepted as the strictest notion of security--relies on channel coding techniques that exploit the inherent randomness of propagation channels to strengthen the security of communications systems. Within this paradigm, we explore strategies to improve secure connectivity in a wireless network. We first consider the intrinsically secure communications graph (iS-graph), a convenient representation of the links that can be established with information-theoretic security on a large-scale network. We then propose and characterize two techniques--sectorized transmission and eavesdropper neutralization--which are shown to dramatically enhance the connectivity of the iS-graph.Comment: Pre-print, IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference (GLOBECOM'10), Miami, FL, Dec. 201

Information-theoretic Physical Layer Security for Satellite Channels

Shannon introduced the classic model of a cryptosystem in 1949, where Eve has access to an identical copy of the cyphertext that Alice sends to Bob. Shannon defined perfect secrecy to be the case when the mutual information between the plaintext and the cyphertext is zero. Perfect secrecy is motivated by error-free transmission and requires that Bob and Alice share a secret key. Wyner in 1975 and later I.~Csisz\'ar and J.~K\"orner in 1978 modified the Shannon model assuming that the channels are noisy and proved that secrecy can be achieved without sharing a secret key. This model is called wiretap channel model and secrecy capacity is known when Eve's channel is noisier than Bob's channel. In this paper we review the concept of wiretap coding from the satellite channel viewpoint. We also review subsequently introduced stronger secrecy levels which can be numerically quantified and are keyless unconditionally secure under certain assumptions. We introduce the general construction of wiretap coding and analyse its applicability for a typical satellite channel. From our analysis we discuss the potential of keyless information theoretic physical layer security for satellite channels based on wiretap coding. We also identify system design implications for enabling simultaneous operation with additional information theoretic security protocols

An information-theoretic security proof for QKD protocols

We present a new technique for proving the security of quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols. It is based on direct information-theoretic arguments and thus also applies if no equivalent entanglement purification scheme can be found. Using this technique, we investigate a general class of QKD protocols with one-way classical post-processing. We show that, in order to analyze the full security of these protocols, it suffices to consider collective attacks. Indeed, we give new lower and upper bounds on the secret-key rate which only involve entropies of two-qubit density operators and which are thus easy to compute. As an illustration of our results, we analyze the BB84, the six-state, and the B92 protocol with one-way error correction and privacy amplification. Surprisingly, the performance of these protocols is increased if one of the parties adds noise to the measurement data before the error correction. In particular, this additional noise makes the protocols more robust against noise in the quantum channel.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure