8,797 research outputs found
Using quantum key distribution for cryptographic purposes: a survey
The appealing feature of quantum key distribution (QKD), from a cryptographic
viewpoint, is the ability to prove the information-theoretic security (ITS) of
the established keys. As a key establishment primitive, QKD however does not
provide a standalone security service in its own: the secret keys established
by QKD are in general then used by a subsequent cryptographic applications for
which the requirements, the context of use and the security properties can
vary. It is therefore important, in the perspective of integrating QKD in
security infrastructures, to analyze how QKD can be combined with other
cryptographic primitives. The purpose of this survey article, which is mostly
centered on European research results, is to contribute to such an analysis. We
first review and compare the properties of the existing key establishment
techniques, QKD being one of them. We then study more specifically two generic
scenarios related to the practical use of QKD in cryptographic infrastructures:
1) using QKD as a key renewal technique for a symmetric cipher over a
point-to-point link; 2) using QKD in a network containing many users with the
objective of offering any-to-any key establishment service. We discuss the
constraints as well as the potential interest of using QKD in these contexts.
We finally give an overview of challenges relative to the development of QKD
technology that also constitute potential avenues for cryptographic research.Comment: Revised version of the SECOQC White Paper. Published in the special
issue on QKD of TCS, Theoretical Computer Science (2014), pp. 62-8
Energy efficient mining on a quantum-enabled blockchain using light
We outline a quantum-enabled blockchain architecture based on a consortium of
quantum servers. The network is hybridised, utilising digital systems for
sharing and processing classical information combined with a fibre--optic
infrastructure and quantum devices for transmitting and processing quantum
information. We deliver an energy efficient interactive mining protocol enacted
between clients and servers which uses quantum information encoded in light and
removes the need for trust in network infrastructure. Instead, clients on the
network need only trust the transparent network code, and that their devices
adhere to the rules of quantum physics. To demonstrate the energy efficiency of
the mining protocol, we elaborate upon the results of two previous experiments
(one performed over 1km of optical fibre) as applied to this work. Finally, we
address some key vulnerabilities, explore open questions, and observe
forward--compatibility with the quantum internet and quantum computing
technologies.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure
Practical cryptographic strategies in the post-quantum era
We review new frontiers in information security technologies in
communications and distributed storage technologies with the use of classical,
quantum, hybrid classical-quantum, and post-quantum cryptography. We analyze
the current state-of-the-art, critical characteristics, development trends, and
limitations of these techniques for application in enterprise information
protection systems. An approach concerning the selection of practical
encryption technologies for enterprises with branched communication networks is
introduced.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; review pape
On the Relations Between Diffie-Hellman and ID-Based Key Agreement from Pairings
This paper studies the relationships between the traditional Diffie-Hellman
key agreement protocol and the identity-based (ID-based) key agreement protocol
from pairings.
For the Sakai-Ohgishi-Kasahara (SOK) ID-based key construction, we show that
identical to the Diffie-Hellman protocol, the SOK key agreement protocol also
has three variants, namely \emph{ephemeral}, \emph{semi-static} and
\emph{static} versions. Upon this, we build solid relations between
authenticated Diffie-Hellman (Auth-DH) protocols and ID-based authenticated key
agreement (IB-AK) protocols, whereby we present two \emph{substitution rules}
for this two types of protocols. The rules enable a conversion between the two
types of protocols. In particular, we obtain the \emph{real} ID-based version
of the well-known MQV (and HMQV) protocol.
Similarly, for the Sakai-Kasahara (SK) key construction, we show that the key
transport protocol underlining the SK ID-based encryption scheme (which we call
the "SK protocol") has its non-ID counterpart, namely the Hughes protocol.
Based on this observation, we establish relations between corresponding
ID-based and non-ID-based protocols. In particular, we propose a highly
enhanced version of the McCullagh-Barreto protocol
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