Cryptographic Communication Research Articles

Research on Quantum Key, Distribution Key and Post-quantum Cryptography Key Applied Protocols for Data Science and Web Security

Currently, data security is one of the most concerning research topics. The traditional RSA encryption system has become vulnerable to quantum algorithms such as Grover and Shor, leading to the development of new security systems for the quantum. As a result, quantum cryptography is gaining importance as a key element of future communication security. This study focuses on quantum key distribution protocols for data quantum encryption, aiming to achieve quantum robustness in all stages of quantum cryptography communication processes. Quantum cryptography communication requires robust quantum encryption not only between end-nodes but also between all components. Therefore, this study demonstrates the process of end-to-end data quantum encryption and proves the overall quantum robustness in this process.

Image cryptography communication using FPAA-based multi-scroll chaotic system

Image cryptography communication using FPAA-based multi-scroll chaotic system

Secure nano-communication framework using RSCV cryptographic circuit in IBM Q

In the cryptographic domain, quantum and its real-time hardware simulation make it easier to secure data during communication. Here, using quantum logic, a unique encryption technique called Reversible select, cross, and variation (RSCV) encryption and decryption, which involves swapping input data halves, is shown. In this article using IBM Q, we created a cryptographic encoder and decoder circuit design utilizing various quantum gates. Based on the encoder/decoder circuit, a simple nanocommunication framework is proposed. Further, to explore the application of the noise model, how to utilize this model to create noisy replicas of these quantum circuits to research the impacts of noise that occur for actual device output is shown. To reduce measurement mistakes, measurement calibration is performed using qiskit ignis model. Preparing all 2n basis input states and calculating the likelihood of counting in the other basis states are the key concepts. The percentage improvement we achieved is 40%, 30%, and 30%, respectively, compared to earlier ones, in RSCV encryption, decryption, and RSCV cryptographic communication architecture for fake provider noise error model. It is feasible to adjust the average outcomes of an additional interesting experiment using these calibrations.

Optical cryptographic communications with non-identical chaotic laser systems

"We report secure data transmission performed using chaotic lasers with different external cavity geometries and applying the chaotic masking method based on subcarrier and phase modulations of the chaotic optical carrier. Two semiconductor lasers with similar multimode emission spectra and self-optical feedback provided, respectively, by ring and linear external cavities, were optically coupled and chaotically synchronized into a master – slave scheme. The transmitted message frequency modulates the radio frequency signal which modulates in phase the master chaotic carrier. Based on the robustness of the used encryption method and the synchronization characteristics of the two lasers, the decryption is conducted by the simple radio frequency spectrum monitoring of the slave emission."

Secure cryptographic communication using ultrasound audio for frictionless payment transactions and secure conversations over a short-range human audible/inaudible spectrum

Background: The aim of the study was to address these challenges by leveraging ultrasound audio as a means for secure cryptographic communication. By utilizing the human audible and inaudible audio spectrum, this approach eliminates the reliance on specialized hardware or traditional network technologies, such as bluetooth, wi-fi, NFC, or RF-based alternatives. Methods: Various mobile phones, tablets, and POS hardware devices with basic microphones and speakers were employed to test the communication channel's performance. The sensitivity of the devices in different environments, such as retail stores or crowded venues like stadiums, was taken into account. Results: The results demonstrated the viability of the proposed secure cryptographic communication using ultrasound audio. Transactions, including payment processing, were successfully conducted without the need for specialized hardware or network connectivity. Conclusions: The proposed solution offers a reliable and cost-effective method for proximity detection, verification, and frictionless transactions. By leveraging the human audible and inaudible audio spectrum, this technology eliminates the need for specialized hardware or traditional network connectivity.

Blockchain and Cryptography Communication System

Abstract: Blockchain is an innovative technology that overcomes these threats, allowing sensitive operations to be decentralized while maintaining a high level of security. Eliminate the need for trusted intermediaries. The blockchain is accessible to network nodes and keeps track of all transactions that have taken place. The goal of our work is to offer a secure communication solution based on blockchain technology. In this project, we explain why blockchain should secure communications and offer a blockchain-based messaging design pattern that maintains the performance and security of data stored on the blockchain by using a smart contract to protect identity and associated verify public key and validate a user certificate. The system is entirely a combination of blockchain and cryptography for communication systems

A Semi-Quantum Secret-Sharing Protocol with a High Channel Capacity.

Semi-quantum cryptography communication stipulates that the quantum user has complete quantum capabilities, and the classical user has limited quantum capabilities, only being able to perform the following operations: (1) measuring and preparing qubits with a Z basis and (2) returning qubits without any processing. Secret sharing requires participants to work together to obtain complete secret information, which ensures the security of the secret information. In the semi-quantum secret sharing (SQSS) protocol, the quantum user Alice divides the secret information into two parts and gives them to two classical participants. Only when they cooperate can they obtain Alice's original secret information. The quantum states with multiple degrees of freedom (DoFs) are defined as hyper-entangled states. Based on the hyper-entangled single-photon states, an efficient SQSS protocol is proposed. The security analysis proves that the protocol can effectively resist well-known attacks. Compared with the existing protocols, this protocol uses hyper-entangled states to expand the channel capacity. The transmission efficiency is 100% higher than that of single-degree-of-freedom (DoF) single-photon states, providing an innovative scheme for the design of the SQSS protocol in quantum communication networks. This research also provides a theoretical basis for the practical application of semi-quantum cryptography communication.

Continuous variable quantum conference network with a Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger entangled state

Quantum conference (QC) is a cryptographic task in secure communications that involves more than two users wishing to establish identical secret keys among N users. The Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) entangled state is the basic resource for quantum cryptographic communication due to the existence of multipartite quantum correlations. An unconditional and efficient quantum network can be established with a continuous variable (CV) GHZ entangled state because of its deterministic entanglement. Here, we report an implementation of QC scheme using a CV multipartite GHZ entangled state. The submodes of a quadripartite GHZ entangled state are distributed to four spatially separated users. The proposed QC scheme is proved to be secure even when the entanglement is distributed through lossy quantum channels and the collective Gaussian attacks are in the all lossy channels. The presented QC scheme has the capability to be directly extended to a larger scale quantum network by using entangled states with more submodes.

Framework Development for Efficient Mission-Oriented Satellite System-Level Design

The space mission analysis and design process defines a space system at the system level to accomplish space mission objectives. Although the traditional process is well established and comprehensive through several years of experience, we propose a novel design process framework in this paper to aid the traditional process focusing on the following areas of improvement: (1) clarification of the direct connection between mission objectives and final system-level baseline design and requirements, (2) development of a comprehensive quantitative judgment criterion to evaluate various design alternatives, (3) derivation of system drivers and critical requirements after obtaining sufficient design knowledge based on the analysis of big data obtained from exploration of entire design space using an integrated design environment, and (4) system optimization even at the system level with a holistic perspective to guarantee that the baseline design meets the mission objectives. Examples of design steps in the proposed framework are characterizing stakeholder needs and engineering characteristics, building an integrated design environment, exploring and analyzing design space, optimizing system-level design, and elaborating mission utility to ensure an efficient mission-oriented design approach. The proposed framework is implemented in an example space mission involving quantum cryptographic communication. Accordingly, we demonstrate that the proposed framework provides an efficient mission-oriented satellite system-level baseline design.

Accurate separation of mixed high-dimension optical-chaotic signals using optical reservoir computing based on optically pumped VCSELs.

In this work, with the mixing fractions being known in advance or unknown, the schemes and theories for the separations of two groups of the mixed optical chaotic signals are proposed in detail, using the VCSEL-based reservoir computing (RC) systems. Here, two groups of the mixed optical chaotic signals are linearly combined with many beams of the chaotic x-polarization components (X-PCs) and Y-PCs emitted by the optically pumped spin-VCSELs operation alone. Two parallel reservoirs are performed by using the chaotic X-PC and Y-PC output by the optically pumped spin-VCSEL with both optical feedback and optical injection. Moreover, we further demonstrate the separation performances of the mixed chaotic signal linearly combined with no more than three beams of the chaotic X-PC or Y-PC. We find that two groups of the mixed optical chaos signals can be effectively separated by using two reservoirs in single RC system based on optically pumped Spin-VCSEL and their corresponding separated errors characterized by the training errors are no more than 0.093, when the mixing fractions are known as a certain value in advance. If the mixing fractions are unknown, we utilize two cascaded RC systems based on optically pumped Spin-VCSELs to separate each group of the mixed optical signals. The mixing fractions can be accurate predicted by using two parallel reservoirs in the first RC system. Based on the values of the predictive mixing fractions, two groups of the mixed optical chaos signals can be effectively separated by utilizing two parallel reservoirs in the second RC system, and their separated errors also are no more than 0.093. In the same way, the mixed optical chaos signal linearly superimposed with more than three beams of optical chaotic signals can be effectively separated. The method and idea for separation of complex optical chaos signals proposed by this paper may provide an impact to development of novel principles of multiple access and demultiplexing in multi-channel chaotic cryptography communication.

Extracting More Quantum Randomness With Non-Uniform Quantization

Random numbers generated via quantum process is indeterministic, which are of essential to the cryptographic communication and the large-scale computer modeling. However, in realistic scenarios, classical noises can inevitably contaminate the raw sequences of a quantum randomness number generator (QRNG), and then compromise the security of the QRNG. Min-entropy is a useful approach that can quantify the randomness independent of side-information. To enhance the extractable randomness of the raw sequences arising from the QRNG, we propose a new method which exploits non-uniform quantization methods instead of uniform sampling methods and effectively enhances the extractable randomness from the QRNG at a high quantum-to-classical-noise ratio (QCNR). Given a QCNR as 50 dB and a 16-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC), the worst-case conditional min-entropy of the non-uniform quantization scheme is improved by nearly 11% compared with that of the uniform sampling scheme.

Design and Validation of Quantum Key Management System for Construction of KREONET Quantum Cryptography Communication

As it has been recently proven that the public key-based RSA algorithms that are currently used in encryption can be unlocked by Shor’s algorithm of quantum computers in a short time, conventional security systems are facing new threats, and accordingly, studies have been actively conducted on new security systems. They are classified into two typical methods: Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). PQC aims to design conventional cryptography systems in a more robust way so that they will not be decrypted by a quantum computer in a short time whereas QKD aims to make data tapping and interception physically impossible by using quantum mechanical characteristics. In this paper, we design a quantum key management system, which is most crucial for constructing a QKD network and analyze the design requirements to apply them to Korea Research Environment Open NETwork (KREONET). The quantum key management system not only manages the lifecycle, such as storage, management, derivation, allocation, and deletion of the symmetric key generated in QKD but also enables many-to-many communication in QKD communication based on the key relay function and P2P communication to overcome the limitation of distance, which is a disadvantage of QKD. We have validated the designed quantum key management system through simulations to supplement the parts that were not considered during the initial design.

Ultra-thin glass seals for protection against unauthorized tampering by permanent monitoring of optical integrity parameters

The advancement of high technology manipulation tools to gain unauthorized access to security eminent hardware in mobile devices demands more sophisticated tamper protection solutions. We developed sensory seal envelopes of ultra-thin glass with individual optical spectra used as signature for tamper protection of electronic controls or cryptographic communication units. A miniaturized autonomic read-out system detects and analyzes the state of the seal. The read-out system is located in the protected area under the seal, together with the secret, in order to protect against attacks via electronic interfaces, such as the mimicry of signature data and the deceptive simulation of the seal's integrity. We introduced a single optical waveguide Bragg grating element via femtosecond laser processing into ultra-thin glass slides. This single Bragg grating combines different functions: It is a sensor element which diffracts the light out-of-plane and doing this in a dispersing manner to create a unique spectral signature. This combination allows a miniaturization of the optical analysis of the dispersed light. We demonstrated that a single waveguide Bragg grating element, inscribed into a monolithic ultra-thin glass foil of 10 cm x 10 cm size, is sufficient for the registration of marginal local mechanical forces onto the glass foil, causing vertical deformations of less than 50 µm at any position. In case of manipulation attempts, such as drilling, cutting, and lasing through the glass foil, the seal's monitoring system recognizes the change or complete loss of the individual spectral signature immediately. We present all elements needed for an optical tamper protection system, based on the sensory seal envelopes of ultra-thin glass in a miniaturized setup, thus reflecting the high potential for future commercial solutions.

A flexible and sensitive strain sensor with three-dimensional reticular structure using biomass Juncus effusus for monitoring human motions

Flexible strain sensors have received extensive attention owing to their booming development. However, achieving high sensitivity and stretchability simultaneously for strain sensors is still a challenge. Herein, we report a fiber-based stretchable strain sensor with a unique three-dimensional (3D) reticular structure for human motion monitoring. The biomass Juncus effusus (JE) fiber was functionalized with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and Ecoflex (EF) using a facile dip-coating-drying approach, and a syringe extraction method, respectively. The resulted JE/CNTs/EF fiber strain sensors exhibited advanced performance of strong flexibility, high sensitivity, and multifunctionality, which displayed a superior sensitivity (gauge factor of 24.95–76.79) and high stretchability (600%). Moreover, good repellency to chemicals and stable responses to various stimuli frequencies over 270 cycles were obtained for the as-prepared sensors. The microfibrils of the JE fiber formed a complicated 3D reticular structure acting as the conductive bridges when stretching. Consequently, the fiber-based JE/CNTs/EF strain sensor can not only accurately detect a full range of body motions and subtle signals, but also can be a promising candidate as a Morse code generator for cryptographic communication.

Connectivity invariant lightweight resiliency improvement strategies for CRT-subset scheme

It has been found in the literature of key management for IoT devices that most of the schemes do not consider the attacking behavior of the adversary. Considering the effect of adversarial attacks on system nodes, we observe that when an adversary captures a node, it can read all the secret information from the memory of the node, resulting a partial disclosure of key pool and exposes a part of other node’s keyrings. Thereby, usage of these links that are made secure by these keys is no longer permitted. The situation worsens with the compromise of more nodes. So, it becomes important to study the robustness of a system against such attacks. In this regard, it is important to define a parameter that measures the security of sensor networks in an adversarial situation. Resiliency is one of such important parameters. Keeping the connectivity property intact, this paper presents a black-box approach to improve the resiliency of a class of lightweight combinatorial subset schemes, known as CRT-Subset schemes. We have developed unidirectional hash chains for CRT-Subset (HC(CRT-Subset)) by using key doublets through the use of a hash chaining mechanism. The idea extends to a key triplet to manufacture the bidirectional hash chains for CRT-Subset (2HC(CRT-Subset)) scheme. These ideas are explained through four Algorithms. Given the number of nodes required for a system to be implemented for practical purposes, our algorithms are capable of finding suitable parameters to efficiently construct the key rings for future cryptographic communications. They also provide efficient mechanisms to find common keys between two nodes. Furthermore, we have shown that both of our proposed methods are more resilient than the vast majority of existing schemes. Schematic analyses and comparisons exhibit the improvement achieved and thus ensure the practicality in (distributed) deployment for large (low-cost) networks. We observe that in a multi-key scenario, like our proposed resiliency improved variants of CRT-Subset schemes, the standard resiliency measure, fail(s), does not cover the full picture. So, we additionally introduce a new security parameter Ts to measure the robustness of a network. It is mathematically a challenging problem to calculate the exact values of Ts as well as fail(s). We compute a bound of Ts for CRT-Subset and find the exact mathematical expression of fail(s) and Ts for the CRT-KPS scheme. In addition, we come up with a compact expression of T1 for the CRT-Subset Scheme.

The Race for Quantum-Resistant Cryptography [quantum - cyber security

That large-scale universal quantum computers could break widely used encryption methods is well known, but what was once seen as a distant, even theoretical, problem is now driving the latest technology race. Current developments in advanced quantum cryptographic solutions are discussed, including the use of public and private/secret keys, random number generation (RNG), quantum key distribution (QKD), QuantumCloud and chip-based quantum cryptography communication systems along with protocols and security/trustless computing issues. Some possible applications such as quantum-resistant communication systems for defence aircraft/drones, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT) and smart city are mentioned. Particular focus is given to satellite-based QKD software architecture and QKD over optical fibre, along with appropriate standards, allowing over globe-spanning distances, to achieve end-to-end secure communication.

A new quantum mechanical pseudo material: Application in cryptography

Recently relativistic Dirac material such as graphene and the topological material as topological insulators have played prominent role in providing some of the materials which incorporate more mathematical and relativistic physical nature in general. Here we suggest a material which is quantum mechanical in nature but is a pseudo material. An interacting quantum many-particle system in one dimension representing the prime numbers on the x-axis through the asymptotic form of the prime counting function is formulated. The effective quantum and classical mechanics of a single particle of the system are studied by deriving the potential function that a single particle experiences in this system. We express our classical Hamiltonian in terms of the angle coordinate to illustrate certain interesting mathematical properties related to the prime numbers. Since it is a mathematical material having prime numbers as the atoms interacting with each other like ordinary mater, this material can have real and important application in cryptography. The elliptic curves that appear in the study of this system are related to primality test and are heavily used in communication cryptography. This analysis opens a new way of looking at materials which shows that simulating a material through a potential is a productive one.

Quantum Key Distribution by Drone

A cryptographic communication system is secure from a practical point of view if the encryption scheme can be broken after X years, where X is determined by security needs and existing technology. Quantum cryptography does not offer a complete solution for all cryptographic problems: secure keys, encryption algorithms based on them, message authentication and finding ways to detect/prevent interception; but it can be seen as a complement to standard symmetric cryptographic systems. This paper presents the implementation of the BB84 quantum key distribution protocol on mobile systems - Amov-lab’s Z410 drone with T-engine 2216 - and tracks the error rate obtained in flight conditions.

Cryptographic Strain‐Dependent Light Pattern Generators

AbstractRefractive freeform components are becoming increasingly relevant for generating controlled patterns of light, because of their capability to spatially modulate optical signals with high efficiency and low background. However, the use of these devices is still limited by difficulties in manufacturing macroscopic elements with complex, 3D surface reliefs. Here, 3D‐printed and stretchable magic windows generating light patterns by refraction are introduced. The shape and, consequently, the light texture achieved can be changed through controlled device strain. Cryptographic magic windows are demonstrated through exemplary light patterns, including micro‐QR‐codes, that are correctly projected and recognized upon strain gating while remaining cryptic for as‐produced devices. The light pattern of micro‐QR‐codes can also be projected by two coupled magic windows, with one of them acting as the decryption key. Such novel, freeform elements with 3D shape and tailored functionalities is relevant for applications in illumination design, smart labels, anti‐counterfeiting systems, and cryptographic communication.

Soft decoding of short/medium length codes using ordered statistics for quantum key distribution

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a cryptographic communication protocol that utilizes quantum mechanical properties for provable absolute security against an eavesdropper. The communication is carried between two terminals using random photon polarization states represented through quantum states. Both these terminals are interconnected through disjoint quantum and classical channels. Information reconciliation using delay controlled joint decoding is performed at the receiving terminal. Its performance is characterized using data and error rates. Achieving low error rates is particularly challenging for schemes based on error correcting codes with short code lengths. This article addresses the decoding process using ordered statistics decoding for information reconciliation of both short and medium length Bose–Chaudhuri–Hocquenghem codes over a QKD link. The link’s quantum channel is modeled as a binary symmetric quantum depolarization channel, whereas the classical channel is configured with additive white Gaussian noise. Our results demonstrate the achievement of low bit error rates, and reduced decoding complexity when compared to other capacity achieving codes of similar length and configuration.