Security analysis and improvement of the dining cryptographer problem-based anonymous quantum communication via non-maximally entanglement state analysis

• Published in: International journal of theoretical physics Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 106 - 115
• Main Authors: Wang, Qing-le, Zhang, Ke-jia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Elementary Particles; Mathematical and Computational Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Field Theory; Quantum Physics; Theoretical; Anonymous quantum communication; The dining cryptographer problem; Non-maximally entanglement
• ISSN: 0020-7748; 1572-9575
• DOI: 10.1007/s10773-014-2206-6

Recently, two novel anonymous quantum communication (AQC) protocols (Shi et al. in Int. J. Theor. Phys. 52, 376-384, 2013) are presented, respectively. One is in a public-receiver model, the other is in broadcasting channels. In their paper, the dining cryptographer problem (DCP) and the non-maximally entanglement state analysis (NESA) are applied. And they analyze some attack strategies, including the honest-but-curious and malicious participant attacking ones. Unfortunately, we find that there exist some potential loopholes in security. The identity of anonymous sender in the AQC protocol with a public receiver for three participants can be revealed. And the AQC protocol in broadcasting channels for n participants, which is sensitive to some special attacks, such as participant attacks, is still not so secure as expected. Here we detailedly analyze the security of their proposed protocols and make some improvements.