Entanglement-distillation attack on continuous-variable quantum key distribution in a turbulent atmospheric channel

Ying Guo, Cailang Xie, Qin Liao, Wei Zhao, Guihua Zeng, and Duan Huang
Phys. Rev. A 96, 022320 – Published 21 August 2017

Abstract

The survival of Gaussian quantum states in a turbulent atmospheric channel is of crucial importance in free-space continuous-variable (CV) quantum key distribution (QKD), in which the transmission coefficient will fluctuate in time, thus resulting in non-Gaussian quantum states. Different from quantum hacking of the imperfections of practical devices, here we propose a different type of attack by exploiting the security loopholes that occur in a real lossy channel. Under a turbulent atmospheric environment, the Gaussian states are inevitably afflicted by decoherence, which would cause a degradation of the transmitted entanglement. Therefore, an eavesdropper can perform an intercept-resend attack by applying an entanglement-distillation operation on the transmitted non-Gaussian mixed states, which allows the eavesdropper to bias the estimation of the parameters and renders the final keys shared between the legitimate parties insecure. Our proposal highlights the practical CV QKD vulnerabilities with free-space quantum channels, including the satellite-to-earth links, ground-to-ground links, and a link from moving objects to ground stations.

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  • Received 7 April 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.96.022320

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Research Areas
Quantum Information, Science & Technology

Authors & Affiliations

Ying Guo1, Cailang Xie1, Qin Liao1, Wei Zhao1, Guihua Zeng2, and Duan Huang1,2,*

  • 1School of Information Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
  • 2State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks and Center of Quantum Information Sensing and Processing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

  • *duan.huang@foxmail.com

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Issue

Vol. 96, Iss. 2 — August 2017

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