Quantum Geo-Encryption
Robert Malaney · 2016
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. The allowed decryption region can be limited to a region determined by the location error bounds and classical information theory. Here we consider the operational aspects of quantum geo-encryption in generic Rician channels, demonstrating that the likelihood of a successful spoofing attack can be driven to zero as the allowed decrypting region expands. 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.