Device-independent uncloneable encryption

Srijita Kundu; Ernest Y.-Z. Tan

doi:10.22331/q-2025-01-08-1582

Device-independent uncloneable encryption

Srijita Kundu¹ and Ernest Y.-Z. Tan²

¹Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
²Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada

Published:	2025-01-08, volume 9, page 1582
Editor:	Anna Pappa
Eprint:	arXiv:2210.01058v5
Doi:	https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2025-01-08-1582
Citation:	Quantum 9, 1582 (2025).

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Abstract

Uncloneable encryption, first introduced by Broadbent and Lord (TQC 2020) is a quantum encryption scheme in which a quantum ciphertext cannot be distributed between two non-communicating parties such that, given access to the decryption key, both parties cannot learn the underlying plaintext. In this work, we introduce a variant of uncloneable encryption in which several possible decryption keys can decrypt a particular encryption, and the security requirement is that two parties who receive independently generated decryption keys cannot both learn the underlying ciphertext. We show that this variant of uncloneable encryption can be achieved device-independently, i.e., without trusting the quantum states and measurements used in the scheme, and that this variant works just as well as the original definition in constructing quantum money. Moreover, we show that a simple modification of our scheme yields a single-decryptor encryption scheme, which was a related notion introduced by Georgiou and Zhandry. In particular, the resulting single-decryptor encryption scheme achieves device-independent security with respect to a standard definition of security against random plaintexts. Finally, we derive an ``extractor'' result for a two-adversary scenario, which in particular yields a single-decryptor encryption scheme for single bit-messages that achieves perfect anti-piracy security without needing the quantum random oracle model.

Featured image: Two-round cloning game in which Alice tests Barlie's state, and then Barlie attempts to clone his state between Bob and Charlie.

► BibTeX data

@article{Kundu2025deviceindependent,
  doi = {10.22331/q-2025-01-08-1582},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2025-01-08-1582},
  title = {Device-independent uncloneable encryption},
  author = {Kundu, Srijita and Tan, Ernest Y.-Z.},
  journal = {{Quantum}},
  issn = {2521-327X},
  publisher = {{Verein zur F{\"{o}}rderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften}},
  volume = {9},
  pages = {1582},
  month = jan,
  year = {2025}
}

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Cited by

[1] Anne Müller and Arthur Mehta, "Unclonable Functional Encryption", Abstract_only IACR Communications in Cryptology 3 2, cc3-1-69 (2026).

[2] Enrique Cervero-Martín and Marco Tomamichel, "Device independent security of quantum key distribution from monogamy-of-entanglement games", Quantum 9, 1652 (2025).

[3] Anne Broadbent, Eric Culf, and Denis Rochette, "Optimal Untelegraphable Encryption and Implications for Uncloneable Encryption", Abstract_only IACR Communications in Cryptology 3 2, cc3-1-73 (2026).

[4] Cameron Foreman and Lluis Masanes, "Seedless extractors for device-independent quantum cryptography", Quantum 9, 1654 (2025).

[5] Rohit Chatterjee, Srijita Kundu, and Supartha Podder, Proceedings of the 57th Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing 1817 (2025) ISBN:9798400715105.

[6] Pierre Botteron, Anne Broadbent, Eric Culf, Ion Nechita, Clément Pellegrini, and Denis Rochette, "Towards Unconditional Uncloneable Encryption", Quantum 10, 2157 (2026).

[7] Arpan Akash Ray and Boris Škorić, "Practical Unclonable Encryption with Continuous Variables", arXiv:2503.02648, (2025).

[8] Arthur Mehta and Anne Müller, "Unclonable Functional Encryption", arXiv:2410.06029, (2024).

[9] Rohit Chatterjee, Srijita Kundu, and Supartha Podder, "Are uncloneable proof and advice states strictly necessary?", arXiv:2410.11827, (2024).

[10] Prabhanjan Ananth and Amit Behera, "A Modular Approach to Unclonable Cryptography", arXiv:2311.11890, (2023).

[11] Prabhanjan Ananth, Fatih Kaleoglu, and Qipeng Liu, "Cloning Games: A General Framework for Unclonable Primitives", arXiv:2302.01874, (2023).

[12] Srijita Kundu and Ernest Y.-Z. Tan, "Composably secure device-independent encryption with certified deletion", Quantum 7, 1047 (2023).

[13] Anne Broadbent, Martti Karvonen, and Sébastien Lord, "Uncloneable Quantum Advice", arXiv:2309.05155, (2023).

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