Benchmark for Non-reciprocal Attack Detection on Synchronization

TL;DR

This paper introduces the BAND model to quantify and detect non-reciprocal attacks on high-precision time synchronization systems, enhancing security analysis and understanding of intrinsic noise.

Contribution

The BAND model provides a unified framework to analyze non-reciprocal attack security and intrinsic noise in time synchronization systems, enabling accurate attack prediction.

Findings

Predicts both instantaneous and accumulated attacks in a 100-km system

Explains intrinsic fiber noise and delay-unsuppressed noise

Establishes a tool for environment-sensitive link modeling

Abstract

A precise and secure time synchronization is the backbone of both fundamental physics and advanced technologies. Despite ultra-high precision, security, particularly the unresolved vulnerabilities on physical links beyond traditional cryptography, remains the bottleneck. Here, we develop an analysis framework, the Benchmark Attack Noise Detection (BAND) model, to quantify the security of the high-precision time synchronization when its core assumption, reciprocity, is broken. The model characterizes non-reciprocal attacks through a unified metric, termed attack intensity. Based on the analysis of attack intensity, we accurately predict both instantaneous and accumulating attacks in a 100-km dual-comb two-way time-transfer system. Beyond security considerations, we find that the BAND model can explain intrinsic fiber noise and delay-unsuppressed noise naturally, offering an effective tool to establish an environment-sensitive link model. This work paves the way for a secure large-scale integrated time, sensing and communication networks.