Key Distribution Process Research Articles

In-situ key update and minimal key set of encrypted outsourced data under binary key-derivation tree

In cloud storage, symmetric encryption is a common method to protect the confidentiality of volume data. One critical issue in symmetric encryption is the management of volume symmetric keys such as key generation, update and distribution. Many schemes have adopted hierarchical structures based on key derivation to generate and organize the keys. However, the efficient update of these derived and associated keys and the distribution of multiple derived keys have not been well studied. This paper mainly studies in-situ key update and traffic cost of key distribution. First, we redesign the key node structure of our binary key-derivation tree to provide the basis of the in-situ key update. Then, secure in-situ key update algorithms are proposed, in which forward secrecy and backward secrecy are guaranteed. Finally, we propose a minimal key set generation algorithm, which can effectively reduce the communication cost of key distribution. We also describe the key distribution and derivation process. Security analysis and extensive experimental evaluations show the proposed algorithms are secure, efficient and practical.

A novel quantum ring signature based on secret sharing

Quantum signature has become a hot topic in the current research of digital signature schemes due to its unconditional security. As a special kind of digital signature, ring signatures are frequently employed in practical situations because of their superior anonymity. In this work, we propose a quantum ring signature scheme based on secret sharing that does not use entanglement states. To guarantee the complete security of the participants’ secret keys, the idea of secret sharing is incorporated into the quantum key distribution process during the key distribution stage. Each ring member contributes his private key share to the final verification formula through a recursive relationship throughout the signing and verification phases, and the verifier can utilize his private key share along with the user’s public key to confirm the ring members’ authenticity; The [Formula: see text]-AS2U hash function is used to encrypt the ring signer’s identity during the entire signature process, which assures the signer’s identity’s complete anonymity, effectively protects the signer’s privacy, and is more in line with practical requirements.

Security Evaluation and Improvement of the Extended Protocol EIBsec for KNX/EIB

The European Installation Bus(EIB) protocol, also known as KNX/EIB, is widely used in building and home automation. An extension of the KNX/EIB protocol, EIBsec, is primarily designed to meet the requirements for data transmission security in distributed building automation systems. However, this protocol has some security issues in the request, key distribution, and identity authentication processes. This paper employs a formal analysis method that combines Colored Petri Net (CPN) theory with the Dolev-Yao attack model to evaluate and enhance the EIBsec protocol. It utilizes the CPN Tools to conduct CPN modeling analysis on the protocol and introduces a security assessment model to carry out intrusion detection and security assessment. Through this analysis, vulnerabilities in the protocol, such as tampering and replay attacks, are identified. To address these security concerns, we introduce hash verification and timestamp judgment methods into the original protocol to enhance its security. Subsequently, based on the improved protocol, we conduct CPN modeling and verify the security of the new scheme. Finally, through a comparison and analysis of the performance and security between the original protocol and the improved scheme, it is found that the improved scheme has higher security.

Securing Group Patient Communication in 6G-Aided Dynamic Ubiquitous Healthcare with Real-Time Mobile DNA Sequencing.

(1) Background: With an advanced technique, third-generation sequencing (TGS) provides services with long deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) reads and super short sequencing time. It enables onsite mobile DNA sequencing solutions for enabling ubiquitous healthcare (U-healthcare) services with modern mobile technology and smart entities in the internet of living things (IoLT). Due to some strict requirements, 6G technology can efficiently facilitate communications in a truly intelligent U-healthcare IoLT system. (2) Research problems: conventional single user-server architecture is not able to enable group conversations where "multiple patients-server" communication or "patient-patient" communication in the group is required. The communications are carried out via the open Internet, which is not a trusted channel. Since heath data and medical information are very sensitive, security and privacy concerns in the communication systems have become extremely important. (3) Purpose: the author aims to propose a dynamic group-based patient-authenticated key distribution protocol for 6G-aided U-healthcare services enabled by mobile DNA sequencing. In the protocol, an authenticated common session key is distributed by the server to the patients. Using the key, patients in a healthcare group are allowed to securely connect with the service provider or with each other for specific purposes of communication. (4) Results: the group key distribution process is protected by a secure three-factor authentication mechanism along with an efficient sequencing-device-based single sign-on (SD-SSO) solution. Based on traceable information stored in the server database, the proposed approach can provide patient-centered services which are available on multiple mobile devices. Security robustness of the proposed protocol is proven by well-known verification tools and a detailed semantic discussion. Performance evaluation shows that the protocol provides more functionality and incurs a reasonable overhead in comparison with the existing works.

Phase‐assisted NOMA based key distribution for IoT networks

AbstractInternet of Things (IoT) technology has recently been adopted in different fields and applications. An IoT network allows for a large set of physical objects (or devices) with various technologies to work together and exchange a large amount of information. This, however, raises different security and privacy concerns, including the confidentiality of the exchanged data. Usually, data confidentiality is maintained in wireless networks utilizing data encryption using a pre‐shared secret key. Thus, protecting the key distribution process is essential to maintaining a secure network. However, due to the typically large size of IoT networks, conventional secret key distribution schemes are unsuitable and lead to resource inefficiency. Therefore, in this paper, an efficient key distribution scheme is proposed by using physical‐layer security concepts. Specifically, non‐orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is utilized to distribute the key to multiple nodes in a resource‐efficient manner. Moreover, the instantaneous channel phase is also used to attain a secure distribution in which each node can obtain its own key only. The performance of the proposed scheme is analyzed in terms of the key error rate at both a legitimate node and an eavesdropper under different channel fading models, where closed form mathematical expressions are derived and verified via simulation results.

Finite-key analysis of decoy model semi-quantum key distribution based on four-state protocol

Semi-quantum key distribution allows a full quantum user Alice and a classical user Bob to share a pair of security keys guaranteed by physical principles. Semi-quantum key distribution is proposed while verifying its robustness. Subsequently, its unconditional security of semi-quantum key distribution system is verified theoretically. In 2021, the feasibility of semi-quantum key distribution system based on mirror protocol was verified experimentally. However, the feasibility experimental system still uses the laser pulse with strong attenuation. It has been proved in the literature that the semi-quantum key distribution system still encounters the risk of secret key leakage under photon number splitting attack. Therefore, the actual security of key distribution can be further reasonably evaluated by introducing the temptation state and conducting the finite-key analysis in the key distribution process. In this work, for the model of adding one-decoy state only to Alice at the sending based on a four state semi-quantum key distribution system, the length of the security key in the case of finite-key is analyzed by using Hoeffding inequality, and then the formula of the security key rate is obtained. It is found in the numerical simulation that when the sample size is <inline-formula><tex-math id="M3">\begin{document}$ {10}^{5} $\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="22-20230849_M3.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="22-20230849_M3.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula>, the security key rate of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M4">\begin{document}$ {10}^{-4} $\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="22-20230849_M4.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="22-20230849_M4.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula>, which is close to the security key rate of the asymptotic limits, can be obtained in the case of close range. It is very important for the practical application of semi-quantum key distribution system.

An Efficient Authentication and Key Distribution Protocol for Multicast Service in Space-Ground Integration Network

Satellite communication technology has attracted the attention of researchers in the study of the sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication network because of its advantages of achieving global coverage with high cost-effectiveness and not being affected by terrain factors and human activities. In order to achieve efficient interconnection between terminals and networks, it is a new development trend of communication technology to integrate satellite communication networks and ground communication networks to construct the Space-Ground Integration Network (SGIN). Multicast service is widely used by network service providers to provide business services to users. Due to the characteristics of higher delay of space communication and unstable link compared with the ground network, if the ground multimedia multicast security protocol is directly applied to the space communication, it is difficult to guarantee the efficiency of the corresponding business service. The existing security protocols in the space information network are usually designed to ensure the security of end-to-end communication, and there are few studies on the security of multimedia multicast services. In view of the above situation, we design a new multicast service security protocol for the SGIN to realize the secure and efficient transmission in multicast services. In the protocol, we first design a key derivation scheme for the shared key between UE and BM-SC based on the existing 5G-AKA mechanism. Then, we propose a group-based multicast service registration mechanism. Finally, we propose a secure and efficient key distribution and update process of multicast service group key based on China Remainder Theorem (CRT). The formal verification tool Scyther is employed to analyze the security of the proposed protocol, and the results show that our scheme has valid security properties. We analyze the performance of the scheme by comparing it with the existing schemes in three aspects, such as signaling overhead, computational overhead, and bandwidth overhead. The comparison results show that our scheme is superior to other existing schemes. Finally, we build an experimental environment and test the delay, transmission rate, and CPU usage of the proposed system. The results show that our scheme improves the efficiency of multicast services while ensuring network security.

A Lightweight Authentication with Dynamic Batch-Based Group Key Management Using LSTM in VANET

Due to its complexity and mobility, VANET (vehicle ad hoc network) security has long plagued the development of the IoT industry. It is still a big challenge for users to decide the trustworthiness of an anonymous message or the preservation of personal information. Group signature is widely used in VANET anonymous authentication, but the existing solutions suffer from high computation costs in certificate revocation list (CRL) checking and signature verification process. In our scheme, we develop a lightweight protocol based on hashing functions and group keys, which escapes from the heavy computation cost. Then, we propose a dynamic batch-based group key distribution process, which is based on long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network to predict traffic flow and calculate the weight to determine the right time for key update. In this way, our method will significantly reduce computation delay and communication overhead. The security and performance analyses show that our scheme is more efficient in terms of authentication speed while keeping conditional privacy in VANET.

A fine‐grained and traceable multidomain secure data‐sharing model for intelligent terminals in edge‐cloud collaboration scenarios

Secure data-sharing technology is a bridge for various collaborative operations among intelligent terminals in the edge-cloud collaborative application scenario. For the shared data involves different levels of confidentiality, intelligent terminals for collaborative operations may be distributed in multiple management domains, and the private information of intelligent terminals is easy to be leaked in edge-cloud collaboration scenarios, the security of data sharing is severely threatened. To solve these problems, this paper proposed a fine-grained and traceable multidomain secure data-sharing model for intelligent terminals. In this model, a key self-certification algorithm is proposed, which avoids potential security threats of key leakage during the key distribution process. The model combines attribute encryption and threshold function to achieve more fine-grained and more flexible secure data sharing; it uses blockchain technology to achieve integrity verification of stored data and traceability of shared data, and it combines on-chain and off-chain databases to achieve rapid retrieval and positioning of shared data distributed among multiple domains, which improves the efficiency of data sharing among domains. The security of the model proposed by us is proved, and compared with the cited literature, it is shown that the proposed model has certain advantages in terms of computational complexity and time consumption.

Phase-matching quantum key distribution with light source monitoring

The transmission loss of photons during quantum key distribution (QKD) process leads to the linear key rate bound for practical QKD systems without quantum repeaters. Phase matching quantum key distribution (PM-QKD) protocol, an novel QKD protocol, can overcome the constraint with a measurement-device-independent structure, while it still requires the light source to be ideal. This assumption is not guaranteed in practice, leading to practical secure issues. In this paper, we propose a modified PM-QKD protocol with a light source monitoring, named PM-QKD-LSM protocol, which can guarantee the security of the system under the non-ideal source condition. The results show that our proposed protocol performs almost the same as the ideal PM-QKD protocol even considering the imperfect factors in practical systems. PM-QKD-LSM protocol has a better performance with source fluctuation, and it is robust in symmetric or asymmetric cases.

An intelligent cryptographic key management model for secure communications in distributed industrial intelligent systems

For secure communication in a distributed cooperation, generally, the data are encrypted and decrypted using a symmetric key. The process of creating, distributing, storing, deploying, and finally revoking the cryptographic keys is called key management. On the basis of the structure, usability, and complexity of the cyber-physical systems, each one of the current key management practices is suitable for a specific range of applications. However, these schemes have some drawbacks in common, such as complicated key generation and distribution process, using key storage, attacks, and traffic load. This paper proposes a key management model for establishing secure communications in the distributed industrial intelligent systems. The model is attack resistant, has high usability in real-world applications, and transforms the current customary key management workflow to enhance security and reduce weaknesses. Its main features include reduced process, intelligent attack resistance, producing dynamic keys with no additional cost, and eliminating key storage and revocation calls.

Experimental demonstrations of unconditional security in a purely classical regime

So far, unconditional security in key distribution processes has been confined to quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols based on the no-cloning theorem of nonorthogonal bases. Recently, a completely different approach, the unconditionally secured classical key distribution (USCKD), has been proposed for unconditional security in the purely classical regime. Unlike QKD, both classical channels and orthogonal bases are key ingredients in USCKD, where unconditional security is provided by deterministic randomness via path superposition-based reversible unitary transformations in a coupled Mach–Zehnder interferometer. Here, the first experimental demonstration of the USCKD protocol is presented.

Lightweight Key Management Scheme for Wireless Communication System of Distribution Network

Key management is the key to ensuring the information security of the intelligent distribution network. Based on the analysis of the communication characteristics and key management requirements of the intelligent distribution network, this paper proposes a lightweight intelligent distribution network key management scheme DNKMS. According to the storage and computing capabilities of power distribution terminals, electronic distribution stations and power distribution master stations, task distribution is optimized, and the design idea of the scheme and the process of key generation, distribution, update, and destruction are described in detail. The analysis results show that the proposed scheme has less time overhead and higher efficiency, can reduce the communication and calculation load required in key management, and meet the security requirements of key management in smart distribution networks.

Additional Security using Three-Pass Protocol and Pohlig-Hellman

Data and information protection is usually done by encrypting sensitive data and information using cipher keys or symmetric algorithms. This includes using what is known as “cipher keys,” which are used in systems that require two parts, a sender’s and receiver’s part, which is a special system that needs to be assembled, and a location where data is sent to or stored. The Three-Pass Protocol and Pohlig Hellman Algorithm solves a key distribution problem in symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, allowing senders and receivers to process encryption and decryption due to lack of key distribution processes.

Machine Learning Techniques for Detecting Attackers During Quantum Key Distribution in IoT Networks With Application to Railway Scenarios

Internet of Things (IoT) deployments face significant security challenges due to the limited energy and computational power of IoT devices. These challenges are more serious in the quantum communications era, where certain attackers might have quantum computing capabilities, which renders IoT devices more vulnerable. This paper addresses the problem of IoT security by investigating quantum key distribution (QKD) in beyond 5G networks. An algorithm for detecting an attacker between a transmitter and receiver is proposed, with the side effect of interrupting the QKD process while detecting the attacker. Afterwards, Artificial neural network (ANN) and deep learning (DL) techniques are proposed in order to detect the presence of an attacker during QKD without the need to disrupt the key distribution process. An architecture for implementing QKD in beyond 5G IoT networks is proposed, offloading the heavy computational tasks to IoT controllers. In addition, an implementation scenario for securing IoT communications for sensors deployed in railroad networks is described. The results show that the proposed ML techniques can reach 99% accuracy in detecting attackers.

Multi-Dimensional Routing, Wavelength, and Timeslot Allocation (RWTA) in Quantum Key Distribution Optical Networks (QKD-ON)

Currently, with the continuous advancement of network and communication technology, the amount of data carried by the optical network is very huge. The security of high-speed and large-capacity information in optical networks has attracted more and more attention. Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides information-theoretic security based on the laws of quantum mechanics. Introducing QKD into an optical network can greatly improve the security of the optical network. In order to reduce the cost of deployment on QKD infrastructure, quantum signals in QKD and classical signals in optical networks are multiplexed in the same fiber by wavelength-division manner. Moreover, due to the limited wavelength resources in an optical fiber, time-division technology is adopted to construct different kinds of channels in QKD system for efficient utilization of wavelength resources. Under such situation, how to satisfy the security requirements of service requests and complete the efficient scheduling of multi-dimensional resources, i.e., wavelengths and timeslots, is a challenging problem. This paper addresses this problem by considering multi-dimensional routing, wavelength, and timeslot allocation (RWTA) in short-distance quantum key distribution optical networks (QKD-ON), in which any two nodes can directly establish a quantum channel, and the maximum distance between any two nodes is less than the distance that can carry out point-to-point quantum key distribution process. While accommodating services with security requirements in QKD optical networks, to avoid the wavelength time-slot fragmentation caused by the constraints of wavelength consistency and time-slot continuity, we propose a time-window-based security orchestration strategy as well as relative-loss of time continuous compactness based RWTA strategy. We conducted the simulations under various scenarios, e.g., different key updating periods and different distributions on wavelength resources, etc., and the results show that the proposed strategy can achieve better performance compared with the baselines in terms of key success rate, key-updating delay, and blocking probability.

QkdSim, a Simulation Toolkit for Quantum Key Distribution Including Imperfections: Performance Analysis and Demonstration of the B92 Protocol Using Heralded Photons

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is one of the most important aspects of quantum cryptography. Using laws of quantum mechanics as the basis for security, the key-distribution process makes information theoretically secure in QKD. With the advancement and commercialization of QKD, an end-to-end QKD simulation software is required that can include experimental imperfections. Software of this kind will ensure that resources are invested only after prior performance analysis, and is faithful to experimental capacities and limitations. In this work, we introduce our QKD simulation toolkit qkdSim, which is ultimately aimed at being developed into such a software package that can precisely model and analyze any generic QKD protocol. We present the design, implementation, and testing of a prototype of qkdSim that can accurately simulate our own experimental demonstration of the B92 protocol. The simulation results match well with experiment; a representative key rate and the quantum bit error rate from experiment is $51\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5$ kbit/sec and $4.79\mathrm{%}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01\mathrm{%}$ respectively, wherein the simulation yields $52.83\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.36$ kbit/sec and $4.79\mathrm{%}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01\mathrm{%}$, respectively.

Development of Quantum Private Queries Protocol on Collective-Dephasing Noise Channel

Quantum private queries can commonly protect important information in a good many of domains, such as finance, business, military, which use quantum effects to achieve unprecedented classical private queries. However, quantum state can be easily affected by environmental noise, which affects the actual effect of quantum private queries. This paper developed a new quantum private query protocol based on four qubits logical Bell state to resist the collective-dephasing noise. The symmetric private information retrieval problem, which is the most influential problem in the process of quantum private query, was solved well by quantum oblivious transfer. It introduces the construction of four qubits logical Bell state. The quantum private query protocol innovates the quantum key distribution process by using the four qubits logical Bell state as the measurement base to measure the logical qubits, and ensures the function of quantum oblivious transmission. The protocol cannot only resist the noise influence of the communication process, but also ensure the security of both sides of the communication.

Enhancement three-pass protocol security with combination caesar cipher and vigenere cipher

Key-based security is still the most widely used form of security today with a key distribution process between senders and receivers that is commonly perform and also it is a classic problem in cryptography where key must be share to other parties (sender or receiver) and its maybe known when third parties do sniffing process or man in the middle attack. Three-Pass Protocol is one solution that can be used to overcome the problem of key distribution, because the sender and receiver can encrypt and decrypt without need to exchange keys. Security in Three-Pass Protocol uses XOR logic so that the resulting ciphertext will be very easy to decrypt by those who are not responsible, to improve data security in the Three-Pass Protocol process which is use Caesar Cipher and Vigenere Cipher algorithms in the encryption and decryption process in the Pass Protocol scheme, and ciphertext encryption results are quite difficult to read and require a long time to decrypt them.

Secure Collaborative Key Management System for Mobile Cloud Data Storage

Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) is the combination of mobile computing, cloud computing and wireless networks to make mobile thin client devices resource-rich in terms of storage, memory computational power and battery power by remotely executing the wide range of mobile application’s data in a pay-per-use cloud computing environment. In MCC, one of the primary concern is the security and privacy of data stored in cloud. The existing techniques are not efficient to manage secret keys during key generation and key distribution processes. The objective of this project work is to develop a secure collaborative key management system (SCKMS) for mobile cloud data storage by implementing by the cryptographic techniques for file encryption and file decryption, key generation, key encryption, key distribution and key decryption processes. In our proposed methodology, DriverHQ public cloud infrastructure is used for accessing the secure file as Storage as a Service (SaaS) mechanism. For generating the secret key, the proposed work implemented with Pseudo Random Number Generator (PRNG) algorithm, it produces the sequence of random numbers for every time. The keys are distributed using general Secret key Sharing Scheme (SSS). The key pattern matching process is implemented to spilt the secret key into three partitions and sent it to client (mobile devices), cloud server and decryption server. The decryption server key and cloud sever key are mapped with client key. The key shares are grouped together using key-lock pair mechanism and it achieves key integrity during untrusted medium communication. The proposed work also eliminates key escrow and key exposure problems. The files are encrypted and decrypted using Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) algorithm. The RSA algorithm is more vulnerable against the brute force attack, because of using larger key size. Thus, the proposed SCKMS achieves data confidentiality and data integrity in mobile cloud storage data when compared to existing Key Management System (KMS). The work also reduces encryption & decryption computation and storage overhead in client mobile devices, and minimizes the energy consumption of the mobile devices efficiently.