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Intercept-and-resend attack and improvement of semiquantum secure direct communication using EPR pairs

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Abstract

Zhang et al. (Quantum Inf Process 16:117, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-017-1573-3) proposed a semiquantum secure direct communication (SQSDC) using Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen pairs. However, as shown in this study, an eavesdropper can reveal the sender’s secret message by performing an intercept-and-resend attack. Furthermore, an eavesdropper can also launch a modification attack to modify the sender’s secret message without being detected. Without considering these security issues, the SQSDC protocol could fail at providing the secret message. Thus, an improvement is proposed to circumvent these problems and to improve the qubit efficiency from 10 to 17%.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their very valuable comments, which greatly enhanced the clarity of this paper. This research was partially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. (Grant Nos. MOST 106-2218-E-039-002-MY3, MOST 107-2218-E-143-002-MY2, and MOST 107-2627-E-006-001) and China Medical University (Grant No. CMU107-N-11).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for General Education, China Medical University, No. 91, Hsueh-Shih Rd., Taichung City, 40402, Taiwan

    Chun-Wei Yang

  2. College of Humanities and Sciences, China Medical University, No. 91, Hsueh-Shih Rd., Taichung City, 40402, Taiwan

    Chun-Wei Yang

  3. Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taitung University, No. 369, Sec. 2, University Rd., Taitung City, 95092, Taiwan

    Chia-Wei Tsai

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Yang, CW., Tsai, CW. Intercept-and-resend attack and improvement of semiquantum secure direct communication using EPR pairs. Quantum Inf Process 18, 306 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-019-2429-9

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