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A novel protocol for multiparty quantum key management

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Abstract

Key management plays a fundamental role in the field of cryptography. In this paper, we propose a novel multiparty quantum key management (QKM) protocol. Departing from single-function quantum cryptography protocols, our protocol has a salient feature in that it accomplishes a complete QKM process. In this process, we can simultaneously realize the functions of key generation, key distribution and key backup by executing the protocol once. Meanwhile, for the first time, we propose the idea of multi-function QKM. Firstly, the secret key is randomly generated by managers via the quantum measurements in \(d\)-level Bell basis. Then, through entanglement swapping, the secret key is successfully distributed to users. Under circumstances of urgent requirement, all managers can cooperate to recover the users’ secret key, but neither of them can recover it unilaterally. Furthermore, this protocol is further generalized into the multi-manager and multi-user QKM scenario. It has clear advantages in the burgeoning area of quantum security group communication. In this system, all group members share the same group key, and group key management is the foundation of secure group communication and hence an important subject of study.

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Acknowledgments

Project supported by NSFC (Grant Nos. 61272514, 61170272, 61121061, 61411146001), NCET (Grant No. NCET-13-0681), the National Development Foundation for Cryptological Research (Grant No. MMJJ201401012) and the Fok Ying Tong Education Foundation (Grant No. 131067) and the China Scholarship Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Software Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China

    Gang Xu

  2. Information Security Center, State Key Laboratory of Networking and Switching Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China

    Gang Xu, Xiu-Bo Chen, Zhao Dou & Yi-Xian Yang

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Gang Xu & Zongpeng Li

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  1. Gang Xu
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  2. Xiu-Bo Chen
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  3. Zhao Dou
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  4. Yi-Xian Yang
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  5. Zongpeng Li
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Correspondence to Xiu-Bo Chen.

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Xu, G., Chen, XB., Dou, Z. et al. A novel protocol for multiparty quantum key management. Quantum Inf Process 14, 2959–2980 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-015-1021-1

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