The development of quantum protocols from conception to experimental realizations is one of
the main sources of the stimulating exchange between fundamental and experimental research
characteristic to quantum information processing. In this thesis we contribute to the development
of two recent quantum protocols, Universal Blind Quantum Computation (UBQC) and Quantum
Digital Signatures (QDS). UBQC allows a client to delegate a quantum computation to a more
powerful quantum server while keeping the input and computation private. We analyse the resilience
of the privacy of UBQC under imperfections. Then, we introduce approximate blindness
quantifying any compromise to privacy, and propose a protocol which enables arbitrary levels of
security despite imperfections. Subsequently, we investigate the adaptability of UBQC to alternative
implementations with practical advantages. QDS allow a party to send a message to other
parties which cannot be forged, modified or repudiated. We analyse the security properties of a
first proof-of-principle experiment of QDS, implemented in an optical system. We estimate the
security failure probabilities of our system as a function of protocol parameters, under all but the
most general types of attacks. Additionally, we develop new techniques for analysing transformations
between symmetric sets of states, utilized not only in the security proofs of QDS but in
other applications as well
