Vadim Makarov, head of the Laboratory for the Analysis of Practical Vulnerabilities of Quantum Cryptography Systems and the Development of Certification Methods at the Center of Competence in Quantum Communications at MISIS University of NTI. 1 credit
A group of scientists from the Quantum Communications Competence Center of NTI, established on the basis of MISIS University, in partnership with the Russian Quantum Center, together with researchers from ITMO University, National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) in China and the Quantum Technology Foundation of Thailand (QTFT) protected quantum key distribution (QKD) systems from light injection attacks. The experiment was described in the international journal PRX Quantum and noted by the American Physical Society.
According to a new experiment, several existing, off-the-shelf isolators and circulators could protect quantum key distribution (QKD) systems from a type of hacking known as light injection attacks. These readily available devices resist the hacker’s onslaught or self-destruct to shut down the entire QKD system and ensure the Quantum Keys don’t end up in the wrong hands. They thus function as an electrical safety fuse in a house.
QKD allows secret quantum keys to be sent over insecure channels. But there are risks with this type of transmission. If QKD isn’t executed in exactly the right way, it becomes vulnerable to light injection attacks, in which additional light is sneakily added to the QKD fiber and invisibly penetrates inside secure stations to carry away pieces of the secret key. To address this concern, physicists and security professionals have been looking for effective countermeasures to prevent these hacks.
Vadim Makarov and his colleagues propose a solution: adding a cheap sacrificial device to the output end of QKD fiber sources to resist light injection attacks or interrupt quantum key transmission before hacking. not succeed. Researchers examined off-the-shelf optical isolators and circulators by burning them with a high-power fiber laser and found that they could perform this function.
“The result of the work was the creation of reliable protection against this class of attacks, and not just the discovery of a vulnerability, the management of which is not very clear. We hope that the countermeasure we tested will be immediately applied in all industrial quantum cryptography systems,” said Vadim Makarov, Head of the Laboratory for Practical Vulnerability Analysis of Quantum Cryptography Systems and Development of Certification Methods at NTI’s MISIS University Quantum Communications Competence Center.
More information:
arxiv.org/pdf/2201.06114.pdf
Provided by National University of Science and Technology MISIS
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