Comparison Protocol Research Articles

Two-Party Quantum Private Comparison Protocol Based on Rotational Encryption

In this paper, we introduce a two-party quantum private comparison (QPC) protocol that employs single photons as quantum resources and utilizes rotational encryption to safeguard the privacy of the inputs. This protocol enables two parties to compare their private data without disclosing any information beyond the outcome of the comparison. The participants’ private data are encoded as single photons, which are encrypted using a rotational encryption method. These encrypted single photons are then transmitted to a semi-honest third party (TP), who conducts single-particle measurements to determine if the users’ private data are equal and subsequently announces the results to the participants. By harnessing the principles of quantum mechanics, we ensure robust protection against potential eavesdropping and participant attacks. In contrast to numerous existing QPC protocols that rely on multi-qubit or d-dimensional quantum states, our method exhibits superior efficiency and practicality. Specifically, our protocol achieves a qubit efficiency of 50% by using two single photons to compare one bit of classical information, and single photons are easier to prepare than multi-qubit and d-dimensional quantum states.

Multi‐Party Semi‐Quantum Private Comparison Protocol of Size Relation with d‐Level GHZ States

AbstractA new multi‐party semi‐quantum private comparison protocol of size relation is designed based on d‐level GHZ states. Multiple classical participants could compare their privacies while keeping them secure under an ideal environment. Compared with some similar protocols, the classical participants in the designed protocol do not need to prepare and measure quantum states. Besides, the qubit efficiency of the protocol reaches 33.33%. It is demonstrated that the output result of the proposed protocol is correct. Finally, security analysis manifests that the proposed protocol behaves well in withstanding intercept‐resend attack, measure‐resend attack, entanglement attack, Trojan horse attack, and so on.

FANNG-MPC: Framework for Artificial Neural Networks and Generic MPC

In this work, we introduce FANNG-MPC, a versatile secure multi-party computation framework capable to offer active security for privacy-preserving machine learning as a service (MLaaS). Derived from the now deprecated SCALE-MAMBA, FANNG is a data-oriented fork, featuring novel set of libraries and instructions for realizing private neural networks, effectively reviving the popular framework. To the best of our knowledge, FANNG is the first MPC framework to offer actively secure MLaaS in the dishonest majority setting.FANNG goes beyond SCALE-MAMBA by decoupling offline and online phases and materializing the dealer model in software, enabling a separate set of entities to produce offline material. The framework incorporates database support, a new instruction set for pre-processed material, including garbled circuits and convolutional and matrix multiplication triples. FANNG also implements novel private comparison protocols and an optimized library supporting Neural Network functionality. All our theoretical claims are substantiated by an extensive evaluation using an open-sourced implementation, including the private inference of popular neural networks like LeNet and VGG16.

Class-Incremental Learning: A Survey.

Deep models, e.g., CNNs and Vision Transformers, have achieved impressive achievements in many vision tasks in the closed world. However, novel classes emerge from time to time in our ever-changing world, requiring a learning system to acquire new knowledge continually. Class-Incremental Learning (CIL) enables the learner to incorporate the knowledge of new classes incrementally and build a universal classifier among all seen classes. Correspondingly, when directly training the model with new class instances, a fatal problem occurs - the model tends to catastrophically forget the characteristics of former ones, and its performance drastically degrades. There have been numerous efforts to tackle catastrophic forgetting in the machine learning community. In this paper, we survey comprehensively recent advances in class-incremental learning and summarize these methods from several aspects. We also provide a rigorous and unified evaluation of 17 methods in benchmark image classification tasks to find out the characteristics of different algorithms empirically. Furthermore, we notice that the current comparison protocol ignores the influence of memory budget in model storage, which may result in unfair comparison and biased results. Hence, we advocate fair comparison by aligning the memory budget in evaluation, as well as several memory-agnostic performance measures.

Reflecting attack and improvement of a semi-quantum private comparison protocol with three-particle GHZ-like states

Reflecting attack and improvement of a semi-quantum private comparison protocol with three-particle GHZ-like states

Quantum Private Comparison Based on Four-Particle Cluster State

A quantum private comparison (QPC) protocol enables two parties to securely compare their private data without disclosing the actual values to one another, utilizing quantum mechanics to maintain confidentiality. Many current QPC protocols mainly concentrate on comparing the equality of private information between two users during a single execution, which restricts their scalability. To overcome this limitation, we present an efficient QPC protocol aimed at evaluating the equality of private information between two groups of users in one execution. This is achieved by leveraging the entanglement correlations present in each particle of a four-particle cluster state. In our approach, users encode their private data using bit flip or phase shift operators on the quantum sequence they receive, which is then sent back to a semi-trusted party which then determines whether the secrets of the two groups are equal and communicates the results to the users. By employing this method and facilitating the distributed transmission of the quantum sequence, our protocol achieves a qubit efficiency of 50%. Security analyses reveal that neither external attacks nor insider threats can successfully compromise the confidentiality of private data.

Quantum Privacy-Preserving Range Query Protocol for Encrypted Data in IoT Environments.

With the rapid development of IoT technology, securely querying sensitive data collected by devices within a specific range has become a focal concern for users. This paper proposes a privacy-preserving range query scheme based on quantum encryption, along with circuit simulations and performance analysis. We first propose a quantum private set similarity comparison protocol and then construct a privacy-preserving range query scheme for IoT environments. By leveraging the properties of quantum homomorphic encryption, the proposed scheme enables encrypted data comparisons, effectively preventing the leakage of sensitive data. The correctness and security analysis demonstrates that the designed protocol guarantees users receive the correct query results while resisting both external and internal attacks. Moreover, the protocol requires only simple quantum states and operations, and does not require users to bear the cost of complex quantum resources, making it feasible under current technological conditions.

A dynamic semi-quantum private comparison protocol for size relations

Abstract Semi-quantum private comparison allows multiple ``classical'' users who have restricted quantum capabilities to compare their private data with the assistance of a quantum third party. In this work, we propose a novel dynamic semi-quantum private comparison protocol using a circular transmission mode along with $d$-dimensional single-particle states. The protocol enables the comparison of data size relations among several ``classical'' users, while the third party can only determine the relative sizes without accessing the users' secret information. Security evaluations demonstrate that the designed protocol withstands typical external and internal attacks. Compared to previous works, this protocol offers several improvements: first, it supports dynamic addition or removal of users, enhancing applicability in practical scenarios; second, it eliminates the need for pre-shared keys, reducing quantum resource consumption; third, it avoids the use of high-dimensional multi-particle entangled states, thereby enhancing the feasibility of implementation. Therefore, the proposed protocol may have more practical potential compared to previous protocols.

Multi-party semi-quantum private comparison protocol of size relation based on two-dimensional Bell states

Abstract Currently, all quantum private comparison protocols based on two-dimensional quantum states can only compare equality, via using high-dimensional quantum states that it is possible to compare the size relation in existing work. In addition, it is difficult to manipulate high-dimensional quantum states under the existing conditions of quantum information processing, leading to low practicality and engineering feasibility of protocols for comparing size relation. Considering this situation, we propose an innovative protocol. The proposed protocol can make size comparison by exploiting more manageable two-dimensional Bell states, which significantly enhances its feasibility with current quantum technologies. Simultaneously, the proposed protocol enables multiple participants to compare their privacies with the semi-quantum model. The communication process of the protocol is simulated on the IBM Quantum Experience platform to verify its effectiveness. Security analysis shows that the proposed protocol can withstand common attacks while preserving the privacies of all participants. Thus, the devised protocol may provide an important reference for implementation of quantum private size comparison protocols.

A novel approach to the quantitative analysis of the particulate matter in conventional cigarette smoke and heated tobacco product aerosols

The particulate and soluble matter present in aerosols from combustible cigarettes (CCs) and Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) was collected in liquid water. These liquids, yellowish in the experiments with cigarettes and colourless after using HTPs, were analysed by Laser Diffraction (LD) and by Transmission Electron Microscopy coupled to Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (TEM-EDX) to study the amount, size, composition, and other features of the particulate matter (PM) present in the collected aerosols.The particulate matter concentration in HTPs samples is below the limit of quantification for LD, and only samples from cigarettes show a particulate matter concentration above such limit. TEM analysis has revealed that the liquid samples (from both, cigarettes and HTPs experiments) contain particulate matter, mainly composed of carbon (C) and oxygen (O), but also of traces of inorganic elements. The TEM electron beam results in the evaporation of the particulate matter derived from HTPs, but not of that derived from cigarettes, highlighting the different nature of the particulate matter in both systems, i.e. liquid particulate matter present in the HTPs aerosols and solid particulate matter in the cigarettes smoke. A protocol for the quantitative comparison of the particulate matter present in aerosols has been applied over sixteen TEM images for each sample, confirming important differences from the point of view of the amount of particulate matter and particle size ranges. Thus, the amount of particulate matter for HTPs aerosol samples is more than one order of magnitude lower than for cigarettes smoke.

Asian Neonatal Network Collaboration (AsianNeo): a study protocol for international collaborative comparisons of health services and outcomes to improve quality of care for sick newborn infants in Asia – survey, cohort and quality improvement studies

IntroductionReducing neonatal deaths in premature infants in low- and middle-income countries is key to reducing global neonatal mortality. International neonatal networks, along with patient registries of premature infants, have contributed...

NEW THRESHOLD PRIVATE SET INTERSECTION PROTOCOLS

With the rising amount of digital technologies that we use on a daily basis, it is more important than ever to handle and process private data securely. Research and academic communities are becoming increasingly interested in multi-party computation, with a focus on the field of Private Set Intersection (PSI). In this regard, this work introduces a novel technique that successfully converts the Cid-Davidson Private Set Intersection protocol into a Threshold Private Set Intersection. It achieves this conversion by introducing two new protocols, TPSI-1 and TPSI-2, and utilizing two previously developed methodologies while the Reed-Solomon codes and the Shamir-secret sharing scheme are the foundations of TPSI-1, whereas Secure Comparison Protocols serve as the foundation for TPSI-2. Specifically, our suggested protocols perform better asymptotically than previous threshold PSI protocols because they have a fixed number of rounds and linear communication and computation complexity that increase with data set size. This study adds to the continuous effort to strengthen the security and effectiveness of private data calculations, highlighting how safe data processing is changing in an era where digital technologies are ingrained in every aspect of our lives.

Privacy-preserving Scanpath Comparison for Pervasive Eye Tracking

As eye tracking becomes pervasive with screen-based devices and head-mounted displays, privacy concerns regarding eye-tracking data have escalated. While state-of-the-art approaches for privacy-preserving eye tracking mostly involve differential privacy and empirical data manipulations, previous research has not focused on methods for scanpaths. We introduce a novel privacy-preserving scanpath comparison protocol designed for the widely used Needleman-Wunsch algorithm, a generalized version of the edit distance algorithm. Particularly, by incorporating the Paillier homomorphic encryption scheme, our protocol ensures that no private information is revealed. Furthermore, we introduce a random processing strategy and a multi-layered masking method to obfuscate the values while preserving the original order of encrypted editing operation costs. This minimizes communication overhead, requiring a single communication round for each iteration of the Needleman-Wunsch process. We demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of our protocol on three publicly available datasets with comprehensive computational performance analyses and make our source code publicly accessible.

Confidentially Compare Rational Numbers under the Malicious Model

<p>Secure multi-party computation is a hotspot in the cryptography field, and it is also a significant means to realize privacy computation. The Millionaires’ problem is the most fundamental problem among them, which is the basic module of secure multi-party computation protocols. Although there are many solutions to this problem, there are few anti-malicious adversarial protocols besides protocols based on Yao’s garbled circuit. Only a few solutions have low efficiency, and there is no protocol for rational numbers comparison under the malicious model, which restricts the solution of many secure multi-party computation problems. In this paper, the possible malicious behaviors are analyzed in the existing Millionaires’ problem protocols. These behaviors are discovered and taken precautions against through the triangle area formula, zero-knowledge proof, and cut-and-choose method, so the protocol of comparing confidentially rational numbers is proposed under the malicious model. And this paper adopts the real/ideal model paradigm to prove the security of the malicious model protocol. Efficiency analysis indicates that the proposed protocol is more effective than existing protocols. The protocol of rational numbers comparison under the malicious model is more suitable for the practical applications of secure multi-party computation, which has important theoretical and practical significance.</p> <p> </p>

Novel semi-quantum private comparison protocol with Bell states

Based on Bell states, a new semi-quantum private comparison protocol is proposed that enables two classical users to securely compare the equality of their private information with the aid of a semi-honest third party. Different from the existing semi-quantum private comparison protocols, the two classical participants in the presented protocol do not need to measure and prepare any quantum state, which not only reduces the consumption of quantum devices, but also greatly improves the feasibility of the protocol. Performing different unitary operations on the received particles, classical users can securely compare their secret information. Besides, the devised protocol has higher qubit efficiency than the other similar counterparts, since participants can compare a two-bit privacy each time with one qubit. Meanwhile, after completing the comparison process, all Bell states could be reused since they still retain the corresponding entanglement property, which greatly facilitates the recycle of quantum resources. Security analyses indicate that the designed scheme is secure against external attack and internal attack. Moreover, the operations involved in our scheme are simulated on the IBM Quantum Experience to demonstrate the effectiveness and security of our scheme.

Efficient and secure semi-quantum private comparison protocol using three-particle GHZ-like states against participant attack

This study identifies a participant attack vulnerability in Li et al.’s SQPC protocol. The participant attack allows a malicious participant, Bob, to obtain the participant Alice’s secret information by intercepting and measuring photons sent to Alice, and later decrypting Alice’s encrypted comparison result. An improved SQPC protocol is proposed to address this problem. The key enhancement is introducing a mutual eavesdropping check requiring the third party and participants to verify they obtain the same photon measurement results. This enables detecting participant attacks like the one identified. The SQPC protocol proposed in this study not only withstands attacks from internal participants but also achieves quantum efficiency almost equivalent to Li et al.’s SQPC protocol. Thus, this study presents a more secure SQPC protocol without compromising quantum efficiency.

Multi-Institutional Audit of FLASH and Conventional Dosimetry With a 3D Printed Anatomically Realistic Mouse Phantom

PurposeWe conducted a multi-institutional dosimetric audit between FLASH and conventional dose rate (CONV) electron irradiations by using an anatomically realistic 3D-printed mouse phantom. MethodsA CT scan of a live mouse was used to create a 3D model of bony anatomy, lungs, and soft tissue. A dual-nozzle 3D printer was used to print the mouse phantom using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (∼1.02 g/cm3) and polylactic acid (∼1.24 g/cm3) simultaneously to simulate soft tissue and bone densities, respectively. The lungs were printed separately using lightweight polylactic acid (∼0.64 g/cm3). Hounsfield units (HU), densities and print-to-print stability of the phantoms were assessed. Three institutions were each provided a phantom, and each institution performed two replicates of irradiations at selected anatomic regions. The average dose difference between FLASH and CONV dose distributions and deviation from the prescribed dose were measured with radiochromic film. ResultsCompared to the reference CT scan, CT scans of the phantom demonstrated mass density differences of 0.10 g/cm3 for bone, 0.12 g/cm3 for lung, and 0.03 g/cm3 for soft tissue regions. Differences in HU between phantoms were <10 HU for soft tissue and bone, with lung showing the most variation (54 HU), but with minimal impact on dose distribution (<0.5%). Mean differences between FLASH and CONV decreased from the first to the second replicate (4.3% to 1.2%), while differences from the prescribed dose decreased for both CONV (3.6% to 2.5%) and FLASH (6.4% to 2.7%). Total dose accuracy suggests consistent pulse dose and pulse number, though these were not specifically assessed. Positioning variability was observed, likely due to the absence of robust positioning aids or image guidance. ConclusionsThis study marks the first dosimetric audit for FLASH using a non-homogeneous phantom, challenging conventional calibration practices reliant on homogeneous phantoms. The comparison protocol offers a framework for credentialing multi-institutional studies in FLASH preclinical research to enhance reproducibility of biological findings.

Hybrid protocols for multi-party semiquantum private comparison, multiplication and summation without a pre-shared key based on d-dimensional single-particle states

In this paper, by utilizing d-dimensional single-particle states, three semiquantum cryptography protocols, i.e., the multi-party semiquantum private comparison (MSQPC) protocol, the multi-party semiquantum multiplication (MSQM) protocol and the multi-party semiquantum summation (MSQS) protocol, can be achieved simultaneously under the assistance of two semi-honest quantum third parties (TPs). Here, the proposed MSQPC scheme is the only protocol which is devoted to judging the size relationship of secret integers from more than two semiquantum participants without a pre-shared key. And the proposed MSQM protocol absorbs the innovative concept of semiquantumness into quantum multiplication for the first time, which can calculate the modulo d multiplication of private inputs from more than two semiquantum users. As for the proposed MSQS protocol, it is the only semiquantum summation protocol which aims to accomplish the modulo d addition of more than three semiquantum users’ private integers. Neither quantum entanglement swapping nor unitary operations are necessary in the three proposed protocols. The security analysis verifies in detail that both the external attacks and the internal attacks can be resisted in the three proposed protocols.

An evaluation of driveline dressing protocols and infection rates for left ventricular assist devices across UK transplant centres

Background/Aims Left ventricular assist devices are used to improve the quality of life of people waiting for heart transplantation. Driveline infections are a significant complication of these devices, occurring in 30–40% of cases, which could lead to life threatening sepsis. This study aimed to review UK driveline dressing protocols and infection rates to determine if national standardisation is possible. Methods Six UK heart transplant centres were asked to share their driveline dressing protocols for comparison. National driveline infection data were obtained from the NHS Blood and Transplant database. Infection rates, patient demographics and device types were compared using Chi squared tests, with a P value of &lt;0.05 indicating statistical significance. Results The study found 38 driveline infections over a 3-year period, with an average infection rate was 4.4% per year. There were no significant difference in infection rates between device types. Dressing protocols varied between centres, but all centres followed international guidance. The timepoint where the highest number of infections were diagnosed was 12 months post implantations, accounting for 23.7% of infections. There were no significant differences in infection rates between centres in 2019–20 or 2021–22, but a significant difference was observed for 2020–21 (P=0.013). Conclusions UK driveline infection rates are below the average reported in the literature. Despite some differences in dressing protocols, all centres examined in this study maintained a level of infection comparable to reported rates. The feasibility of national standardisation remains uncertain, and further research is needed to determine the most effective dressing protocols for preventing driveline infections.

One-way semi-quantum private comparison protocol without pre-shared keys based on unitary operations

Semi-quantum private comparison is a method for private comparison with fewer quantum resources, enabling classical participants to collaborate with a semi-honest third party possessing complete quantum capabilities. A one-way quantum private comparison protocol is devised only by unitary operations. The protocol facilitates one-way transmission between third party (TP) and classical participants in quantum communication, where the classical participants only need to perform unitary operations and measurement operations on the transmitted qubits. In addition, classical participants do not require pre-shared keys. It is shown that the qubit efficiency of this protocol is 12.5%. Finally, security analysis and the simulation results on the IBM Quantum Experience demonstrate the security and the feasibility of this protocol.