Simulation and Comparison of BB84 and SSP99 QKD Protocols

Cryptography is a technique that helps to attain an almost secure data transmission between the end-users over an identified or unidentified network system. The classical cryptographic systems use the computational complexity of mathematical problems to provide secure communication to end-users. Due to the advancement in the field of Quantum Computing and the infinite computational capabilities of Quantum Computers, the security of classical cryptography is rapidly fading. To overcome the limitations of classical cryptography and provide unconditionally secure transmissions in the era of Quantum computers, one must employ the principles of quantum physics and apply them in the field of cryptography i.e., Quantum Cryptography. The main challenge in Quantum Cryptography is the distribution of keys between end-users such that the shared key remains completely secret and known only to the end-users. As of today, various QKD (Quantum Key Distribution) protocols have been proposed, the first one being the BB84 that was proposed by Charles Bennet and Giles Brassard in the year 1984. The SSP99 QKD protocol was proposed by Pasquinucci and N. Gisin in 1999. In this paper, simulation and comparison between the BB84 and the SSP99 QKD Protocol was performed.