A Grover Search-Based Quantum Key Agreement Protocol for Secure Internet of Medical Things Communication
The rapid integration of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) into healthcare systems raises urgent demands for secure communication mechanisms capable of protecting sensitive patient data. Quantum key agreement (QKA), a collaborative approach to key generation based on quantum principles, provides...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Future Internet |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/17/6/263 |
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| author | Tzung-Her Chen |
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| author_sort | Tzung-Her Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The rapid integration of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) into healthcare systems raises urgent demands for secure communication mechanisms capable of protecting sensitive patient data. Quantum key agreement (QKA), a collaborative approach to key generation based on quantum principles, provides an attractive alternative to traditional quantum key distribution (QKD), as it eliminates dependence on a trusted authority and ensures equal participation from all users. QKA demonstrates particular suitability for IoMT’s decentralized medical networks by eliminating trusted authority dependence while ensuring equitable participation among all participants. This addresses fundamental challenges where centralized trust models introduce vulnerabilities and asymmetric access patterns that compromise egalitarian principles essential for medical data sharing. However, practical QKA applications in IoMT remain limited, particularly for schemes that avoid complex entanglement operations and authenticated classical channels. Among the few QKA protocols employing Grover’s search algorithm (GSA), existing proposals potentially suffer from limitations in fairness and security. In this paper, the author proposes an improved GSA-based QKA protocol that ensures fairness, security, and correctness without requiring an authenticated classical communication channel. The proposed scheme guarantees that each participant’s input equally contributes to the final key, preventing manipulation by any user subgroup. The scheme combines Grover’s algorithm with the decoy photon technique to ensure secure quantum transmission. Security analysis confirms resistance to external attacks, including intercept-resend, entanglement probes, and device-level exploits, as well as insider threats such as parameter manipulation. Fairness is achieved through a symmetric protocol design rooted in quantum mechanical principles. Efficiency evaluation shows a theoretical efficiency of approximately 25%, while eliminating the need for quantum memory. These results position the proposed protocol as a practical and scalable solution for future secure quantum communication systems, particularly within distributed IoMT environments. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 1999-5903 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| spelling | doaj-art-0e1d12b15ca04adfa8c85c0a93d76d102025-06-25T13:52:43ZengMDPI AGFuture Internet1999-59032025-06-0117626310.3390/fi17060263A Grover Search-Based Quantum Key Agreement Protocol for Secure Internet of Medical Things CommunicationTzung-Her Chen0Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Chiayi University, Chiayi 60004, TaiwanThe rapid integration of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) into healthcare systems raises urgent demands for secure communication mechanisms capable of protecting sensitive patient data. Quantum key agreement (QKA), a collaborative approach to key generation based on quantum principles, provides an attractive alternative to traditional quantum key distribution (QKD), as it eliminates dependence on a trusted authority and ensures equal participation from all users. QKA demonstrates particular suitability for IoMT’s decentralized medical networks by eliminating trusted authority dependence while ensuring equitable participation among all participants. This addresses fundamental challenges where centralized trust models introduce vulnerabilities and asymmetric access patterns that compromise egalitarian principles essential for medical data sharing. However, practical QKA applications in IoMT remain limited, particularly for schemes that avoid complex entanglement operations and authenticated classical channels. Among the few QKA protocols employing Grover’s search algorithm (GSA), existing proposals potentially suffer from limitations in fairness and security. In this paper, the author proposes an improved GSA-based QKA protocol that ensures fairness, security, and correctness without requiring an authenticated classical communication channel. The proposed scheme guarantees that each participant’s input equally contributes to the final key, preventing manipulation by any user subgroup. The scheme combines Grover’s algorithm with the decoy photon technique to ensure secure quantum transmission. Security analysis confirms resistance to external attacks, including intercept-resend, entanglement probes, and device-level exploits, as well as insider threats such as parameter manipulation. Fairness is achieved through a symmetric protocol design rooted in quantum mechanical principles. Efficiency evaluation shows a theoretical efficiency of approximately 25%, while eliminating the need for quantum memory. These results position the proposed protocol as a practical and scalable solution for future secure quantum communication systems, particularly within distributed IoMT environments.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/17/6/263Internet of Medical Thingsquantum key agreementGrover’s search algorithmquantum securityfairness |
| spellingShingle | Tzung-Her Chen A Grover Search-Based Quantum Key Agreement Protocol for Secure Internet of Medical Things Communication Future Internet Internet of Medical Things quantum key agreement Grover’s search algorithm quantum security fairness |
| title | A Grover Search-Based Quantum Key Agreement Protocol for Secure Internet of Medical Things Communication |
| title_full | A Grover Search-Based Quantum Key Agreement Protocol for Secure Internet of Medical Things Communication |
| title_fullStr | A Grover Search-Based Quantum Key Agreement Protocol for Secure Internet of Medical Things Communication |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Grover Search-Based Quantum Key Agreement Protocol for Secure Internet of Medical Things Communication |
| title_short | A Grover Search-Based Quantum Key Agreement Protocol for Secure Internet of Medical Things Communication |
| title_sort | grover search based quantum key agreement protocol for secure internet of medical things communication |
| topic | Internet of Medical Things quantum key agreement Grover’s search algorithm quantum security fairness |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/17/6/263 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tzungherchen agroversearchbasedquantumkeyagreementprotocolforsecureinternetofmedicalthingscommunication AT tzungherchen groversearchbasedquantumkeyagreementprotocolforsecureinternetofmedicalthingscommunication |