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Double C-NOT attack and counterattack on ‘Three-step semi-quantum secure direct communication protocol’

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Abstract

Recently, Zou and Qiu (Sci China Phys Mech Astron 57:1696–1702, 2014) proposed a three-step semi-quantum secure direct communication protocol allowing a classical participant who does not have a quantum register to securely send his/her secret message to a quantum participant. However, this study points out that an eavesdropper can use the double C-NOT attack to obtain the secret message. To solve this problem, a modification is proposed.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Ministry of Science and Technology of Republic of China for financial support of this research under Contract No. MOST 105-2221-E-006-162-MY2. Special thank is due to the anonymous reviewer for his/her suggestion on the use of delay lines to avoid the double C-NOT attack.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Rd., Tainan City, 70101, Taiwan, ROC

    Jun Gu, Po-hua Lin & Tzonelih Hwang

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  1. Jun Gu
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  2. Po-hua Lin
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  3. Tzonelih Hwang
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Correspondence to Tzonelih Hwang.

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Gu, J., Lin, Ph. & Hwang, T. Double C-NOT attack and counterattack on ‘Three-step semi-quantum secure direct communication protocol’. Quantum Inf Process 17, 182 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-018-1953-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11128-018-1953-3

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