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Key-leakage evaluation of authentication in quantum key distribution with finite resources

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Abstract

Partial information leakages of generation key undoubtedly influence the security of practical Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) system. In this paper, based on finite-key analysis and deep investigation on privacy amplification, we present a method for characterizing information leakages gained by adversary in each authentication round and therefore take the theory derived by Cederlöf and Larsson (IEEE Trans Inf Theory 54:1735–1741, 2008) into practical case. As the authentication key is fed from one round of generation keys to the next except the first round, by considering its security weakness due to information leakages and finite size effect, we further propose a universal formula for calculating the lifetime of initial authentication key used in QKD with finite resources. Numerical simulations indicate that our bound for estimating information leakages strictly characterizes the stability of practical QKD against information-leakage-based attacks, and our calculation formula in terms of lifetime can precisely evaluate the usage time of initial authentication key. Our work provides a practical solution for evaluating authentication security of QKD.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Xiong-Feng Ma for valuable and enlightening discussions. They gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CB338002) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11304397).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhengzhou Information Science and Technology Institute, Zhengzhou, 450004, China

    Chun Zhou, Wan-Su Bao, Hong-Wei Li, Yang Wang & Xiang-Qun Fu

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  1. Chun Zhou
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  3. Hong-Wei Li
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Correspondence to Wan-Su Bao.

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Zhou, C., Bao, WS., Li, HW. et al. Key-leakage evaluation of authentication in quantum key distribution with finite resources. Quantum Inf Process 13, 935–955 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-013-0703-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-013-0703-9

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