A Study on Implementation Attacks against QKD Systems
The technical report "Implementation Attacks against QKD Systems", commissioned by BSI, presents the current state of knowledge on implementation attacks against QKD systems in a structured manner.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is a technology which seeks to achieve secure key distribution schemes based on physical principles. Specialised hardware such as single-photon sources and detectors is required in order to implement QKD protocols. By now, the scientific literature contains a significant number of publications on attacks against QKD systems which exploit weaknesses or properties of the hardware of a QKD system. The report provides a structured and coherent overview of all currently known QKD-specific implementation attacks against QKD systems.
The report summarizes the current state of knowledge and points towards further works which are necessary in order to obtain assurance about the implementation security of QKD systems. In particular, more experience needs to be gained in practically executing implementation and side-channel attacks and more research needs to be conducted on the effectiveness of countermeasures. The report can serve to scientists, manufacturers and other stakeholder as a basis for further works in this area.