Experimental symmetric private information retrieval with measurement-device-independent quantum network

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the first experimental implementation of symmetric private information retrieval (SPIR) supported by a quantum-secure key-exchange network, enabling secure biometric data retrieval over a quantum internet.

Contribution

It introduces a real-world, provably-secure SPIR scheme supported by a measurement-device-independent quantum network, advancing secure data retrieval technologies.

Findings

Successful retrieval of fingerprint data from 800-entry database

Feasibility of SPIR with quantum secure communications demonstrated

Opens new possibilities for secure distributed data storage

Abstract

Secure information retrieval is an essential task in today's highly digitised society. In some applications, it may be necessary that user query's privacy and database content's security are enforced. For these settings, symmetric private information retrieval (SPIR) could be employed, but its implementation is known to be demanding, requiring a private key-exchange network as the base layer. Here, we report for the first time a realisation of provably-secure SPIR supported by a quantum-secure key-exchange network. The SPIR scheme looks at biometric security, offering secure retrieval of 582-byte fingerprint files from a database with 800 entries. Our experimental results clearly demonstrate the feasibility of SPIR with quantum secure communications, thereby opening up new possibilities in secure distributed data storage and cloud computing over the future Quantum Internet.