Leveraging quantum mechanics, cryptographers have devised provably secure key sharing protocols[4], [3], [6], [17]. Despite proving the security in theory, real-world application falls short of the ideal. Last year, cryptanalysts completed an experiment demonstrating a successful eavesdropping attack on commercial quantum key distribution (QKD) systems[12]. This attack exploits a weakness in th...

The role of squeezing in quantum key distribution with continuous variables based on homodyne detection and post-selection is investigated. It is shown that amplitude squeezing creates strong correlations between the signals of the legitimate receiver and a potential eavesdropper. Postselection of the received pulses can therefore be used to reduce the eavesdropper’s knowledge of the raw key, w...

Key predistribution is a popular technique for key distribution in sensor networks. The schemes available in current literature using this approach are for nodes with no or limited mobility. In this paper we present two key predistribution based scheme for heterogeneous networks i.e. networks which consist of nodes which are stationary as well as highly mobile. The existing schemes make use of ...

A semi-quantum key distribution (SQKD) protocol allows a quantum user and a limited “classical” user to establish a shared secret key secure against an allpowerful adversary. In this work, we present a new SQKD protocol where the quantum user is also limited in her measurement capabilities. We describe the protocol, prove its security, and show its noise tolerance is as high as “fully quantum” ...

Among all security issues, key management is the most attractive mechanism to ensure security of applications and network services in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Key management includes two important aspects namely: Key distribution, which constitutes the task of distributing secret keys to nodes in the network and Key revocation, which refers to the task of securely withdrawing the key in...

The continuous variable quantum key distribution has been considered to have the potential to provide high secret key rate. However, in present experimental demonstrations, the secret key can be distilled only under very small loss rates. Here, by calculating explicitly the computational complexity with the channel transmission, we show that under high loss rate it is hard to distill the secret...

Self-healing group key distribution is a primitive aimed to achieve robust key distribution in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) over lossy communication channels. However, all the existing self-healing group key distribution schemes in the literature are designed for homogenous WSNs that do not scale. In contract, heterogeneous WSNs have better scalability and performance. We are thus motivated ...

We consider the security of the Bennett-Brassard 1984 protocol for quantum key distribution, with arbitrary individual imperfections simultaneously in the source and detectors. We provide the secure key generation rate and show that three parameters must be bounded to ensure security; the basis dependence of the source, a detector-blinding parameter, and a detector leakage parameter. The system...

As an alternative to the usual key generation by two-way communication in schemes for quantum cryptography, we consider codes for key generation by one-way communication. We study codes that could be applied to the raw key sequences that are ideally obtained in recently proposed scenarios for quantum key distribution, which can be regarded as communication through symmetric four-letter channels.

Security schemes of pairwise key establishment, which enable sensors to communicate with each other securely, play a fundamental role in research on security issue in wireless sensor networks. A general framework for key predistribution is presented, based on the idea of KDC (Key Distribution Center) and polynomial pool schemes. By utilizing nice properties of H2 (Hierarchical Hypercube) model,...