Skip to main content
We gratefully acknowledge support from the Simons Foundation, member institutions, and all contributors. Donate
arXiv logo
Cornell University Logo

Quantum Physics

arXiv:2502.04081 (quant-ph)
[Submitted on 6 Feb 2025 (v1), last revised 6 May 2025 (this version, v3)]

Title:Backflash Attack on Coherent One-Way Quantum Key Distribution

Authors:Ashutosh Kumar Singh, Nilesh Sharma, Vaibhav Pratap Singh, Anil Prabhakar
View PDF HTML (experimental)
Abstract:In this article, we experimentally demonstrate an eavesdropper's (Eve's) information gain by exploiting the breakdown flash generated by the single photon avalanche detector (SPAD) used in coherent one-way quantum key distribution (COW-QKD) setup. Unlike prior studies focusing on the device-level characterization of backflash photons, this work quantifies Eve's learning with a QKD system that includes a key distillation engine (KDE). Eve's learning is quantified using the backflash photons emitted by SPAD and the information available on the classical channel. Experimentally observed data are in good agreement with theoretical simulations. Some mitigation strategies against the backflash attack are also discussed.
Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:2502.04081 [quant-ph]
  (or arXiv:2502.04081v3 [quant-ph] for this version)
  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2502.04081
Related DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOT.2025.3557214

Submission history

From: Vaibhav Pratap Singh [view email]
[v1] Thu, 6 Feb 2025 13:44:58 UTC (5,988 KB)
[v2] Sat, 8 Feb 2025 06:24:59 UTC (5,987 KB)
[v3] Tue, 6 May 2025 09:19:59 UTC (5,049 KB)
Full-text links:

Access Paper:

license icon view license
Current browse context:
quant-ph
< prev   |   next >
new | recent | 2025-02

References & Citations

export BibTeX citation

Bookmark

BibSonomy logo Reddit logo

Bibliographic and Citation Tools

Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?)
Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?)
Litmaps (What is Litmaps?)
scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?)

Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article

alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?)
CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?)
DagsHub (What is DagsHub?)
Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?)
Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?)
Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?)
ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?)

Demos

Replicate (What is Replicate?)
Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?)
TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?)

Recommenders and Search Tools

Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?)
CORE Recommender (What is CORE?)

arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators

arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.

Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.

Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)