Efficient and Secure Long-Distance Quantum Key Distribution by using a Proxy Encryption Scheme

The quantum key distribution (QKD) technique provided a promising resolution to the current security threats in Quantum Communication. However, the conventional QKD approach is vulnerable to hacker attacks and the Quantum particles used in QKD lose their energy during long-distance communication. To increase the distance coverage of quantum communication, our system proposed a Multi-layer Proxy Encryption Scheme (MPES) using entangled quantum particles. The main advantage of MPES over other conventional communication techniques is that each quantum repeater in the network acts as a different source of encryption with both sender and receiver nodes. For effective long-distance communication, this system adopted a trust-based short-distance protocol to find the path of photon transfer. The entangled photon that is used in communication is done through normal fibre optic cable. The presence of an eavesdropper can be measured with the help of an error correction protocol and a public key is sent through the normal communication channel. This pattern is checked throughout the communication path and malicious nodes that change its pattern will be eliminated from the network. This multiple encoding enhances the security level and reduces the end decryption time effectiveness. Quantum repeaters are used in the QKD protocol to extend the transmission distance by implementing quantum correlations. Unlike the conventional QR, our proposed structure performs one-way communication by encoding and decoding the data within a single node. The reader can decode the information from the actual sender and the writer transforms this decoded data to another node of quantum repeaters. The qubits that are decoded will be in a bell state, and qubits transfer the data in the form of polarization.Moreover, the shortest path algorithm-based photon transfer is done in this approach which increased the execution period of the proposed approach and also turned into the enhanced cost-effective technique. The obtained key error rate of the proposed system is compared with the conventional BB84 protocol and the comparison result proved an increase of 30% in error reduction and reduced energy consumption.