Quantum key distribution: examination of the decoy state protocol

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an innovative technology that exploits the laws of quantum mechanics to generate and distribute a shared cryptographic key for secure communications. The unique nature of QKD ensures that eavesdropping on quantum communications necessarily introduces detectable erro...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE communications magazine 2015-10, Vol.53 (10), p.24-31
Main Authors: Mailloux, Logan O., Grimaila, Michael R., Colombi, John M., Hodson, Douglas D., Engle, Ryan D., McLaughlin, Colin V., Baumgartner, Gerald
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Channels
Communication systems
Cryptography
Decoys
Disruption tolerant networking
Eavesdropping
Mathematical models
Military communication
Network security
Optical fibers
Optical pulses
Photonics
Photons
Propagation losses
Protocols
Quantum cryptography
Quantum mechanics
Security
System performance
US Department of Defense
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an innovative technology that exploits the laws of quantum mechanics to generate and distribute a shared cryptographic key for secure communications. The unique nature of QKD ensures that eavesdropping on quantum communications necessarily introduces detectable errors which is desirable for high-security environments. QKD systems have been demonstrated in both freespace and optical fiber configurations, gaining global interest from national laboratories, commercial entities, and the U.S. Department of Defense. However, QKD is a nascent technology where realized systems are constructed from non-ideal components, which can significantly impact system performance and security. In this article, we describe QKD technology as part of a secure communications solution and identify vulnerabilities associated with practical network architectures. In particular, we examine the performance of decoy state enabled QKD systems against a modeled photon number splitting attack and suggest an improvement to the decoy state protocol security condition that does not assume a priori knowledge of the QKD channel efficiency.
ISSN:0163-6804
1558-1896
DOI:10.1109/MCOM.2015.7295459