Quantum Key Distribution Protocols and Applications
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Quantum Key Distribution Protocols and Applications Sheila Cobourne Technical Report RHUL{MA{2011{05 8th March 2011 Department of Mathematics Royal Holloway, University of London Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, England http://www.rhul.ac.uk/mathematics/techreports Title: Quantum Key Distribution – Protocols and Applications Name: Sheila Cobourne Student Number: 100627811 Supervisor: Carlos Cid Submitted as part of the requirements for the award of the MSc in Information Security at Royal Holloway, University of London. I declare that this assignment is all my own work and that I have acknowledged all quotations from the published or unpublished works of other people. I declare that I have also read the statements on plagiarism in Section 1 of the Regulations Governing Examination and Assessment Offences and in accordance with it I submit this project report as my own work. Signature: Date: Acknowledgements I would like to thank Carlos Cid for his helpful suggestions and guidance during this project. Also, I would like to express my appreciation to the lecturers at Royal Holloway who have increased my understanding of Information Security immensely over the course of the MSc, without which this project would not have been possible. Contents Table of Figures ................................................................................................... 6 Executive Summary ............................................................................................. 7 Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................... 8 1.1 Background ..................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Objective of the Report ................................................................................... 9 1.3 Structure of the Report .................................................................................. 10 Chapter 2 Some Security Concepts ................................................................. 11 2.1 Cryptographic Theory and Practice ................................................................. 11 2.2 Symmetric and Asymmetric Cryptographic Keys ............................................. 11 2.2.1 Symmetric Cryptography ................................................................................................ 11 2.2.2 Asymmetric or “Public Key” Cryptography ..................................................................... 11 2.3 Types of Security ........................................................................................... 12 2.3.1 Computational Security .................................................................................................. 12 2.3.2 Information-theoretic Security ....................................................................................... 12 2.4 The One Time Pad and the Vernam Cipher ..................................................... 12 2.5 Kerckhoff’s Principle ...................................................................................... 13 2.6 Key Establishment Protocols .......................................................................... 13 2.7 Key Distribution ............................................................................................ 14 2.8 Where Does Quantum Key Distribution Fit In? ............................................... 14 Chapter 3 The Quantum World ...................................................................... 15 3.1 Quantum Theory Historical Background ......................................................... 15 3.2 Quantum Properties ...................................................................................... 15 3.2.1 Quantum Superposition ................................................................................................. 15 3.2.2 Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle ................................................................................ 17 3.2.3 Quantum Entanglement ................................................................................................. 17 3.2.4 Bell’s Theorem ................................................................................................................ 18 3.3 Quantum Computers ..................................................................................... 18 Page 1 3.4 Quantum Decoherence .................................................................................. 19 3.5 Quantum Channels ........................................................................................ 19 3.6 Photon Polarisation ....................................................................................... 19 3.7 Quantum No-Cloning ..................................................................................... 21 3.8 Quantum Theory and Quantum Key Distribution ............................................ 21 Chapter 4 Quantum Key Distribution Protocols .............................................. 22 4.1 General methodology for QKD ....................................................................... 22 4.1.1 Raw Key Exchange .......................................................................................................... 22 4.1.2 Key Sifting ....................................................................................................................... 23 4.1.3 Key Distillation ................................................................................................................ 23 4.1.4 Useable Key Size ............................................................................................................. 24 4.2 Quantum Security ......................................................................................... 25 4.3 The BB84 Protocol ......................................................................................... 26 4.3.1 Raw Key Exchange and Key Sifting ................................................................................. 26 4.3.2 Raw Key Exchange in the Presence of Eavesdroppers ................................................... 28 4.3.3 Photon Number Splitting Attacks ................................................................................... 29 4.3.4 Counteracting PNS Attacks ............................................................................................. 30 4.4 The B92 Protocol ........................................................................................... 31 4.5 The SARG04 Protocol ..................................................................................... 32 4.6 The E91 Protocol ........................................................................................... 33 4.7 The BBM92 Protocol ...................................................................................... 34 4.8 Other Protocols ............................................................................................. 34 Chapter 5 Quantum Key Distribution - The Challenges ................................... 35 5.1 Is QKD Too Good To Be True? ........................................................................ 35 5.2 Basic Issues ................................................................................................... 35 5.2.1 Point to Point links and Denial of Service ....................................................................... 35 5.2.2 Photon Sources and Detectors ....................................................................................... 35 5.2.3 Losses in the Quantum Channel and Limiting Distance ................................................. 36 5.2.4 Key Distribution Rate ...................................................................................................... 37 5.2.5 Classical Authentication ................................................................................................. 37 5.2.6 Quantum Physics Itself ................................................................................................... 37 Page 2 5.2.7 A Security Proof Equals Proven Security? ...................................................................... 38 5.2.8 Side Channel Attacks ...................................................................................................... 38 5.2.9 Key Management ........................................................................................................... 39 5.3 Is QKD Actually Needed? ............................................................................... 39 5.4 When to Use QKD .......................................................................................... 41 5.5 The Way Forward .......................................................................................... 42 Chapter 6 Quantum Networks ....................................................................... 43 6.1 Innate Problems with Quantum Channels ...................................................... 43 6.2 A Networked Solution ................................................................................... 44 6.3 Quantum Network Types ............................................................................... 44 6.3.1 Quantum Node Networks .............................................................................................. 44 6.3.2 Optical Node Networks .................................................................................................. 45 6.3.3 Trusted Relay Networks ................................................................................................. 45 6.4 Practical Quantum Network