Cryptanalysis and improvement of quantum broadcast communication and authentication protocol with a quantum one-time pad**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61502101 and 61170321), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. BK20140651), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education, China (Grant No. 20110092110024), and the Project Funded by PAPD

Abstract

The security of quantum broadcast communication (QBC) and authentication protocol based on Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) state and quantum one-time pad is analyzed. It is shown that there are some security issues in this protocol. Firstly, an external eavesdropper can take the intercept–measure–resend attack strategy to eavesdrop on 0.369 bit of every bit of the identity string of each receiver without being detected. Meanwhile, 0.524 bit of every bit of the secret message can be eavesdropped on without being detected. Secondly, an inner receiver can take the intercept–measure–resend attack strategy to eavesdrop on half of the identity string of the other’s definitely without being checked. In addition, an alternative attack called the CNOT-operation attack is discussed. As for the multi-party QBC protocol, the attack efficiency increases with the increase of the number of users. Finally, the QBC protocol is improved to a secure one.