Quantum Diffie-Hellman Extended to Dynamic Quantum Group Key Agreement for e-Healthcare Multi-Agent Systems in Smart...

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Information Security
• Quantum Computing

Background:

• Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) are crucial for advancing e-healthcare and improving citizen quality of life.
• Securely sharing sensitive health data requires robust Group Key Agreement (GKA) mechanisms.
• Classical GKA cryptosystems rely on computational assumptions vulnerable to quantum computing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a secure healthcare system architecture for cities using MAS.
• To introduce a Quantum Group Key Agreement (QGKA) technique for enhanced data security in e-healthcare.
• To develop a dynamic QGKA protocol for flexible group management.

Main Methods:

• A three-layered system architecture is proposed for urban healthcare zones.
• A Multi-Agent System (MAS) is integrated into the architecture.
• A Quantum Group Key Agreement (QGKA) technique based on Quantum Diffie-Hellman (QDH) is developed, including a dynamic protocol (DQGKA).

Main Results:

• The proposed QGKA protocol establishes secure shared keys using a XOR-operation.
• The Dynamic QGKA (DQGKA) protocol supports member join and leave operations.
• Performance analysis shows satisfactory Qubit Efficiency (QE), Unitary Operation (UO), Unitary Operation Efficiency (UOE), Key Consistency Check (KCC), and Security Against Participants Attack (SAP).

Conclusions:

• The proposed QGKA technique provides unconditional security based on QDH principles.
• The e-healthcare MAS architecture is robust against internal and external attacks, including future quantum-based threats.
• This approach ensures the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive health information in smart city healthcare systems.