Quantum Geo-Encryption
This resolves a long-standing challenge in delivering information that can only be decrypted at a given location without relying on physical security assumptions, potentially benefiting secure communications and distributed networks.
The paper tackles the problem of location-specific secure communication by introducing quantum geo-encryption, which allows encrypted data to be decrypted only at a specific geographic location, with results showing that spoofing attack likelihood approaches zero as adversaries move away from the allowed location.
In this work we introduce the concept of quantum geo-encryption - a protocol that invokes direct quantum encryption of messages coupled to quantum location monitoring of the intended receiver. By obfuscating the quantum information required by both the decrypting process and the location verification process, a communication channel is created in which the encrypted data can only be decrypted at a specific geographic locale. Classical wireless communications can be invoked to unlock the quantum encryption process thereby allowing for any deployment scenario regardless of the channel conditions. Quantum geo-encryption can also be used to realize quantum-computing instructions that can only be implemented at a specific location, and allow for a specified geographical data-route through a distributed network. Here we consider the operational aspects of quantum geo-encryption in generic Rician channels, demonstrating that the likelihood of a successful spoofing attack approaches zero as the adversary moves away from the allowed decrypting location. The work introduced here resolves a long-standing quest to directly deliver information which can only be decrypted at a given location free of assumptions on the physical security of a receiver.