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Simultaneous quantum identity authentication scheme utilizing entanglement swapping with secret key preservation

Arindam Dutta, Anirban Pathak

TL;DR

This work proposes a new quantum identity authentication protocol that enables simultaneous mutual authentication of two parties, Alice and Bob, with the help of an untrusted third party, Charlie, by harnessing Bell states and entanglement swapping. A key feature is the mapping between a pre-shared key sequence and Bell-state preparations, implemented through Pauli operations, and a permutation-based orchestration by Charlie to realize CDSQC-inspired QIA. The paper provides security analyses against impersonation, intercept-resend, and impersonated fraudulent attacks, and analyzes performance under collective noise using decoherence-free subspaces. The approach is benchmarked against existing QIA protocols, showing reduced pre-shared-key requirements and reliance on Bell states, while acknowledging practical challenges such as quantum memory and channel characterization. Overall, the protocol advances QIA by offering bidirectional authentication with potentially fewer quantum resources and robustness to certain noise processes, pointing to future work on device-independence and broader CDSQC adaptations.

Abstract

Unconditional security in quantum key distribution (QKD) relies on authenticating the identities of users involved in key distribution. While classical identity authentication schemes were initially utilized in QKD implementations, concerns regarding their vulnerability have prompted the exploration of quantum identity authentication (QIA) protocols. In this study, we introduce a new protocol for QIA, derived from the concept of controlled secure direct quantum communication. Our proposed scheme facilitates simultaneous authentication between two users, Alice and Bob, leveraging Bell states with the assistance of a third party, Charlie. Through rigorous security analysis, we demonstrate that the proposed protocol withstands various known attacks, including impersonation, intercept and resend and impersonated fraudulent attacks. Additionally, we establish the relevance of the proposed protocol by comparing it with the existing protocols of similar type.

Simultaneous quantum identity authentication scheme utilizing entanglement swapping with secret key preservation

TL;DR

This work proposes a new quantum identity authentication protocol that enables simultaneous mutual authentication of two parties, Alice and Bob, with the help of an untrusted third party, Charlie, by harnessing Bell states and entanglement swapping. A key feature is the mapping between a pre-shared key sequence and Bell-state preparations, implemented through Pauli operations, and a permutation-based orchestration by Charlie to realize CDSQC-inspired QIA. The paper provides security analyses against impersonation, intercept-resend, and impersonated fraudulent attacks, and analyzes performance under collective noise using decoherence-free subspaces. The approach is benchmarked against existing QIA protocols, showing reduced pre-shared-key requirements and reliance on Bell states, while acknowledging practical challenges such as quantum memory and channel characterization. Overall, the protocol advances QIA by offering bidirectional authentication with potentially fewer quantum resources and robustness to certain noise processes, pointing to future work on device-independence and broader CDSQC adaptations.

Abstract

Unconditional security in quantum key distribution (QKD) relies on authenticating the identities of users involved in key distribution. While classical identity authentication schemes were initially utilized in QKD implementations, concerns regarding their vulnerability have prompted the exploration of quantum identity authentication (QIA) protocols. In this study, we introduce a new protocol for QIA, derived from the concept of controlled secure direct quantum communication. Our proposed scheme facilitates simultaneous authentication between two users, Alice and Bob, leveraging Bell states with the assistance of a third party, Charlie. Through rigorous security analysis, we demonstrate that the proposed protocol withstands various known attacks, including impersonation, intercept and resend and impersonated fraudulent attacks. Additionally, we establish the relevance of the proposed protocol by comparing it with the existing protocols of similar type.
Paper Structure (13 sections, 20 equations, 4 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 13 sections, 20 equations, 4 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. New quantum identity authentication protocol
  3. Principal concept
  4. Protocol description
  5. Evaluation of the security aspects in the proposed protocol
  6. Security assessment of the protocol against impersonation attack by Eve
  7. Security assessment of the protocol against intercept and resend attack
  8. Security assessment of the protocol against impersonated fraudulent attack
  9. Collective noise analysis of proposed protocol
  10. Collective-dephasing noise
  11. Collective-rotation noise
  12. Comparison with the existing protocols
  13. Conclusion

Figures (4)

  • Figure 1: Flowchart illustrating the operation of the proposed QIA protocol.
  • Figure 2: The correlation between the probability $P\left(n\right)$ of detecting Eve’ s presence and the number of classical keys $n$ used as a pre-shared authentication key.
  • Figure 3: Eve’ s IR attack strategy. Here, the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 represent the qubits in sequences $S_{A1}$, $S_{A2}$, $S_{B3}$ and $S_{B4}$, respectively.
  • Figure 4: The collective error probability with respect to the noise parameter can be categorized as: (a) Collective dephasing error probability with noise parameter $\phi$, and (b) Collective rotation error probability with noise parameter $\theta$.