Quantum Steganography

TL;DR

This paper introduces quantum steganography protocols that enable hiding quantum information within quantum error-correcting codes, ensuring secure communication undetectable by eavesdroppers without secret keys or entanglement.

Contribution

It presents novel quantum steganography protocols using error-correcting codes, analyzing their security, efficiency, and key consumption in quantum communication.

Findings

Eavesdropper cannot distinguish hidden messages from noise without secret keys.

Protocols achieve secure quantum communication with quantifiable rates.

Analysis of secret key and entanglement resources needed for secure steganography.

Abstract

Steganography is the process of hiding secret information by embedding it in an "innocent" message. We present protocols for hiding quantum information in a codeword of a quantum error-correcting code passing through a channel. Using either a shared classical secret key or shared entanglement the sender (Alice) disguises her information as errors in the channel. The receiver (Bob) can retrieve the hidden information, but an eavesdropper (Eve) with the power to monitor the channel, but without the secret key, cannot distinguish the message from channel noise. We analyze how difficult it is for Eve to detect the presence of secret messages, and estimate rates of steganographic communication and secret key consumption for certain protocols.