Quantum-secured data transmission in urban fibre-optic communication lines

Abstract

Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides theoretic information security in communications based on the laws of quantum physics. In this work, we report an implementation of quantum-secured data transmission in the infrastructure of Sberbank of Russia in standard communication lines in Moscow. The experiment is realized on the basis of already deployed urban fiber-optics communication channels with significant losses. We realize the decoy-state BB84 QKD protocol using the one-way scheme with polarization encoding for generating keys. Quantum-generated keys are then used for continuous key renewal in the hardware devices for establishing a quantum-secured VPN Tunnel between two offices of Sberbank. The hybrid approach used offers possibilities for long-term protection of the transmitted data; it is promising for integrating into the already existing information security infrastructure.

4 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Secure Quantum Key Distribution
• Practical challenges in quantum key distribution
• Improved key rate bounds for practical decoy-state quantum key distribution systems
• Symmetric blind information reconciliation for quantum key distribution
• Low loss QKD optical scheme for fast polarization encoding
• Demonstration of a quantum key distribution network in urban fibre-optic communication lines
• Practical issues in decoy-state quantum key distribution based on the central limit theorem

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Security of the decoy state method for quantum key distribution
• Preparing a commercial quantum key distribution system for certification against implementation loopholes
• Error estimation at the information reconciliation stage of quantum key distribution
• Blind information reconciliation with polar codes for quantum key distribution
• Modular quantum key distribution setup for research and development applications