On the Security of Offloading Post-Processing for Quantum Key Distribution

Lorünser, Thomas; Krenn, Stephan; Pacher, Christoph; Schrenk, Bernhard

doi:10.3390/e25020226

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…To improve the security, an irreducible polynomial will be randomly generated as the characteristic polynomial in this study. If there is one entry in the higher 64 bits of the generated characteristic polynomial, the Toeplitz matrix will not be able to complete all the operations in a single cycle, which will considerably slow down the hash operation [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Section: Implementation Flow Of Hashing Algorithm Based On Variable C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Speed Variable Polynomial Toeplitz Hash Algorithm Based on FPGA

Huang

Yin

et al. 2023

Entropy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) network, authentication protocols play a critical role in safeguarding data interactions among users. To keep pace with the rapid advancement of QKD technology, authentication protocols must be capable of processing data at faster speeds. The Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA), which functions as a cryptographic hash function, is a key technology in digital authentication. Irreducible polynomials can serve as characteristic functions of the Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) to rapidly generate pseudo-random sequences, which in turn form the foundation of the hash algorithm. Currently, the most prevalent approach to hardware implementation involves performing block computations and pipeline data processing of the Toeplitz matrix in the Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to reach a maximum computing rate of 1 Gbps. However, this approach employs a fixed irreducible polynomial as the characteristic polynomial of the LFSR, which results in computational inefficiency as the highest bit of the polynomial restricts the width of parallel processing. Moreover, an attacker could deduce the irreducible polynomials utilized by an algorithm based on the output results, creating a serious concealed security risk. This paper proposes a method to use FPGA to implement variational irreducible polynomials based on a hashing algorithm. Our method achieves an operational rate of 6.8 Gbps by computing equivalent polynomials and updating the Toeplitz matrix with pipeline operations in real-time, which accelerates the authentication protocol while also significantly enhancing its security. Moreover, the optimization of this algorithm can be extended to quantum randomness extraction, leading to a considerable increase in the generation rate of random numbers.

show abstract