Can I read Privacy Enhanced QKD Networks: Zero Trust Relay Architecture based on Homomorphic Encryption on EtoBox?

Privacy Enhanced QKD Networks: Zero Trust Relay Architecture based on Homomorphic Encryption by Brazaola-Vicario, Aitor; Lage, Oscar; Bernabé-Rodríguez, Julen; Jacob, Eduardo; Astorga, Jasone is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Privacy Enhanced QKD Networks: Zero Trust Relay Architecture based on Homomorphic Encryption about?

Quantum key distribution (QKD) enables unconditionally secure symmetric key exchange between parties. However, terrestrial fibre-optic links face inherent distance constraints due to quantum signal degradation. Traditional solutions to overcome these limits rely on trusted relay nodes, which perform intermediate re-encryption of keys using one-time pad (OTP) encryption. This approach, however, exposes keys as plaintext at each relay, requiring significant trust and stringent security controls at every intermediate node. These "trusted" relays become a security liability if compromised. To address this issue, we propose a zero-trust relay design that applies fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) to perform intermediate OTP re-encryption without exposing plaintext keys, effectively mitigating the risks associated with potentially compromised or malicious relay nodes. Additionally, the architecture enhances crypto-agility by incorporating external quantum random number generators, thus decoupling key generation from specific QKD hardware and reducing vulnerabilities tied to embedded key-generation modules. The solution is designed with the existing European Telecommunication Standards In

Author

Brazaola-Vicario, Aitor; Lage, Oscar; Bernabé-Rodríguez, Julen; Jacob, Eduardo; Astorga, Jasone

Published

2025

Language

EN