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Quasi-light Storage for Optical Data Packets
Published on: February 6, 2014
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Secure coherent optical communication via QKD-based parallel SHA-256 stream cipher with dual-randomized affine
Optics Express
|May 4, 2026
Summary
This study introduces a novel stream cipher encryption scheme combining quantum key distribution (QKD) and Secure Hash Algorithm 256 (SHA-256) to boost key generation rates for secure communication.
Area of Science:
- Cybersecurity
- Quantum Information Science
- Cryptography
Background:
- Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) offers information-theoretic security but suffers from low key generation rates.
- High-speed classical optical communication demands faster encryption methods than traditional QKD alone can provide.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a high-speed, secure encryption scheme by integrating QKD with SHA-256.
- To enhance the key generation rate while maintaining robust security.
Main Methods:
- A novel group-wise dual-randomized affine construction is proposed.
- The scheme utilizes configurable grouping, parallel processing, dynamic initial vectors (IV), and variable full-domain strides.
- A linear mapping is applied to data groups for deep orthogonalization of the hash input space.
Main Results:
- The proposed scheme achieves high-strength security protection and real-time communication performance.
- Statistical analysis shows high ciphertext entropy, negligible autocorrelation, and high key sensitivity.
- The effective computational search space is expanded beyond the 2^256 bound, countering pre-computation attacks.
Conclusions:
- The integrated QKD and SHA-256 stream cipher scheme effectively bridges the gap between QKD's security and classical communication's speed requirements.
- The innovative affine construction ensures both security and performance, making it suitable for high-speed secure communication links.
