Abstract: Quantum cryptography is a technology that uses the principle of quantum mechanics to realize the secure transmission and encryption of information. It has the advantage of resisting the attacks of traditional computers and quantum computers. However, with the development of artificial intelligence technology, quantum cryptography is also facing new challenges and threats. This paper analyzes the influence and possibility of artificial intelligence technology on quantum cryptography, and discusses the principle and prospect of post-quantum cryptography as a coping strategy.
Step 1 introduce
Information security is one of the important problems facing today’s society, especially in the fields of finance, medical care and military affairs. Information leakage or tampering may cause serious losses and harm. In order to protect information security, the traditional method is to construct encryption algorithm by using difficult problems in mathematics, such as public key encryption algorithm based on large number decomposition or discrete logarithm problem. However, these algorithms are at risk of being cracked or attacked, especially after the emergence of large-scale quantum computers, because of their exponential acceleration advantages, they can effectively solve some difficult problems in classical calculation.
In order to deal with this threat, quantum cryptography came into being. Quantum cryptography is a technology that uses the principle of quantum mechanics to realize the secure transmission and encryption of information. It mainly includes two aspects: one is to encode and transmit information by using single photon or other microscopic particles as carriers; The second is to use Heisenberg uncertainty principle, cloning theorem and other physical laws to ensure information security. The most typical and mature example is Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology based on BB84 protocol.
QKD technology can establish a secret key between two remote communication parties (usually called Alice and Bob) that only they know and cannot be obtained or modified by eavesdroppers (usually called Eve). This secret key can be used for one-time encryption (OTP) of other information, thus achieving perfect confidentiality. QKD technology has the following characteristics:
-Safety is based on physical laws rather than mathematical assumptions;
-eavesdroppers can be detected and eliminated;
-Can adapt to any type and length of information;
-Only low-complexity and low-cost equipment is needed;
-Compatible with existing network structures.
Based on the above advantages, QKD technology is considered as an effective means to resist quantum computer attacks, and has been widely studied and applied in laboratories and practical scenes.
However, quantum cryptography is not perfect, and it also faces some challenges and threats. One of the important sources is artificial intelligence (AI) technology. AI technology is a branch of computer science that simulates or surpasses human intelligence. It involves many fields such as machine learning, deep learning, neural network, natural language processing, computer vision and so on. AI technology has made rapid development and breakthrough in recent years, and has produced great influence and value in all walks of life.
The influence and possibility of AI technology on quantum cryptography are as follows:
-AI technology can be used to improve the performance and efficiency of quantum cryptography;
-AI technology can be used to analyze the security and reliability of quantum cryptography;
-AI technology can be used to attack or crack quantum cryptography systems;
-AI technology can be used to construct new quantum cryptography protocols or algorithms.
This paper will elaborate these four aspects in detail, and discuss the principle and prospect of post-quantum cryptography as a coping strategy.
2. AI technology improves the performance of quantum cryptography system.
Although quantum cryptography has perfect confidentiality in theory, there are still many limitations and difficulties in practical operation. For example:
-Single photon signals are easily disturbed or lost due to factors such as fiber loss or spatial attenuation;
-Due to factors such as equipment error or environmental noise, single photon detection is easy to produce error code or false positive;
-Single photon transmission is easily disturbed or manipulated due to channel instability or eavesdropper attacks;
-Because the key generation rate is limited by signal strength, bit error rate, eavesdropping detection rate and other factors, it is difficult for single photon encryption to achieve high efficiency.
These problems lead to a lot of post-processing operations such as error correction, privacy amplification and information renegotiation in the process of quantum key distribution. These operations not only increase the communication time and cost, but also reduce the communication quality and security.
In this respect, AI technology can exert its powerful data processing ability and adaptive learning ability, and help optimize and improve the performance and efficiency of quantum cryptography system. Specifically, AI technology can be applied to the following aspects:
-AI technology can be used to predict and adjust the intensity and polarization of single photon signals to adapt to different channel conditions and requirements;
-AI technology can be used to identify and eliminate the error code and false positive of single photon detection, so as to improve the speed and quality of key generation;
-AI technology can be used to detect and resist the interference and manipulation of single photon transmission to ensure the security and integrity of the key;
-AI technology can be used to optimize and simplify the post-processing operation of single photon encryption to reduce communication time and cost.
In these ways, AI technology can make the quantum cryptography system more stable, efficient, reliable and safe.
3. AI technology to analyze the security of quantum cryptography system
Although the quantum cryptography system guarantees perfect confidentiality in theory based on physical laws, there are still many security risks in actual operation. For example:
-Due to factors such as imperfect equipment or inaccurate model, there may be loopholes or defects in quantum cryptographic protocols or algorithms;
-Due to unreasonable parameter selection or inaccurate estimation, the quantum cryptography system may be over-optimized or over-conservative;
-Due to insufficient experimental data or inappropriate analysis methods, there may be misjudgments or missed judgments in quantum cryptography systems;
-Because eavesdroppers have more powerful computing power or attack means, quantum cryptography system may be at risk of being cracked or attacked.
These problems lead to strict and complex security analysis and evaluation of quantum cryptography system in practical application. These analyses and evaluations not only need a lot of theoretical knowledge and empirical judgment, but also need a lot of computing resources and time.
In this respect, AI technology can play its powerful data mining ability and intelligent reasoning ability, and help analyze and evaluate the security and reliability of quantum cryptography system. Specifically, AI technology can be applied to the following aspects:
-AI technology can be used to find and repair the loopholes or defects of quantum cryptography protocols or algorithms, so as to improve the robustness and adaptability of the system;
-AI technology can be used to optimize and adjust the parameter selection and estimation of quantum cryptography system to achieve the best security performance ratio;
-AI technology can be used to verify and improve the experimental data and analysis methods of quantum cryptography system to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of the system;
-AI technology can be used to predict and prevent the cracking or attack risk of quantum cryptography system to ensure the security and integrity of the system.
In these ways, AI technology can make the quantum cryptography system more credible, controllable, reliable and secure.
4. AI technology attacks or cracks quantum cryptography systems.
Although quantum cryptography system has the advantage of resisting the attacks of traditional computers and quantum computers, it does not mean that it is absolutely safe. In fact, with the progress of science and technology, eavesdroppers may also have more powerful computing power or attack means, thus posing a threat to the quantum cryptography system. For example:
-The eavesdropper may take advantage of factors such as imperfect equipment or inaccurate model to carry out classic attacks such as side channel attack, man-in-the-middle attack and playback attack;
-The eavesdropper may use the single photon signal itself or other relevant information (such as time, frequency, phase, etc.) to carry out quantum attacks such as optical measurement attacks, coherent state attacks, and nonstandard fundamental attacks;
-The eavesdropper may use the interaction or coupling between the single photon signal and the environment (such as scattering, absorption, diffraction, etc.) to carry out physical attacks such as fault injection attack and environmental noise analysis;
Eavesdroppers may use the entanglement or correlation between a single photon signal and other microscopic particles (such as Bell state and GHZ state) to carry out quantum entanglement attacks such as entanglement uncertainty attack, entanglement stealing attack and entanglement amplification attack.
These attacks may lead to the leakage or tampering of the key of quantum cryptography system, thus reducing or destroying the security and integrity of the system.
In this respect, AI technology can exert its powerful computing power and attack ability to help eavesdroppers attack or crack quantum cryptography systems. Specifically, AI technology can be applied to the following aspects:
-AI technology can be used to simulate and analyze the equipment, model, parameters, data and other information of quantum cryptography system, so as to find the loopholes or defects of the system;
-AI technology can be used to design and implement classical attacks, quantum attacks, physical attacks, quantum entanglement attacks and other attacks of quantum cryptography systems;
-AI technology can be used to collect and process single photon signals or other related information of quantum cryptography system to extract or tamper with key information;
-AI technology can be used to forge and cover up post-processing operations such as eavesdropping detection or error correction of quantum cryptography systems to avoid being discovered or confronted.
In these ways, AI technology can make eavesdroppers more hidden, efficient, powerful and dangerous. 5. AI technology to construct a new quantum cryptography protocol or algorithm.
Although there are various protocols or algorithms in quantum cryptography system, it still has great development space and potential. For example:
-Quantum cryptography system can use more physical resources or mechanisms, such as multiphoton signals, high-dimensional space, continuous variables, nonlinear effects, etc., to improve the performance and security of the system;
-Quantum cryptography system can use more mathematical tools or methods, such as coding theory, information theory, complexity theory, random number generation, etc., to improve the robustness and adaptability of the system;
-Quantum cryptography system can make use of more application scenarios or requirements, such as network communication, distributed computing, cloud computing, Internet of Things, etc., to improve the practicability and value of the system;
-Quantum cryptography systems can use more security objectives or standards, such as unconditional security, provable security, post-quantum security, information theory security, etc., to improve the credibility and controllability of the system.
All these aspects need to be innovated and explored to construct new quantum cryptography protocols or algorithms.
In this respect, AI technology can exert its powerful creativity and learning ability, and help to construct new quantum cryptography protocols or algorithms. Specifically, AI technology can be applied to the following aspects:
-AI technology can be used to simulate and optimize the physical resources or mechanisms of quantum cryptography systems to discover new quantum signals or quantum effects;
-AI technology can be used to design and verify mathematical tools or methods of quantum cryptography, so as to discover new coding schemes or information metrics;
-AI technology can be used to adapt to and meet the application scenarios or requirements of quantum cryptography systems to discover new communication modes or computing tasks;
-AI technology can be used to evaluate and improve the security objectives or standards of quantum cryptography systems, so as to discover new security certificates or security guarantees.
In these ways, AI technology can make the quantum cryptography system more diverse, advanced, practical and reliable.
6. Conclusion
This paper discusses the relationship and function between AI technology and quantum cryptography from four aspects. First of all, AI technology can improve the performance and efficiency of quantum cryptography system; Secondly, AI technology can analyze and evaluate the security and reliability of quantum cryptography system. Thirdly, AI technology can attack or crack quantum cryptography systems; Finally, AI technology can construct new quantum cryptography protocols or algorithms. All these aspects show that AI technology has important and extensive application value and development potential in the field of quantum cryptography.
Of course, this paper only gives a preliminary and brief introduction to this subject, and does not involve more details and problems. For example:
-Is there some basic principle or law between AI technology and quantum cryptography?
-Is there any interaction or restriction between AI technology and quantum cryptography?
What are the similarities and differences between AI technology and other types of encryption systems (such as classic, hybrid, post-quantum, etc.)?
These problems are worthy of further study and exploration.