Intercept/resend and translucent attacks on the quantum key distribution protocol based on the pre- and post-selection effect

Abstract

We investigate the security against the intercept/resend and translucent attacks on the quantum key distribution protocol based on the pre- and post-selection effect. In 2001, Bub proposed the quantum cryptography scheme, which was an application of the so-called mean king’s problem. We evaluate a probability that legitimate users cannot detect eavesdropper’s malicious acts for Bub’s protocol. We also estimate a probability that the eavesdropper guesses right at the random secret key one of the legitimate users tries to share with the other one. From rigorous mathematical and numerical analyses, we conclude that Bub’s protocol is weaker than the Bennett–Brassard protocol of 1984 (BB84) against both the intercept/resend and translucent attacks. Because Bub’s protocol uses a two-way quantum channel, the analyses of its security are tough to accomplish. We refer to their technical points accurately in the current paper. For example, we impose some constraints upon the eavesdropper’s strategies in order to let their degrees of freedom be small.