Physical layer encryption scheme using finite-length polar codes

In this study, by exploiting the properties of finite-length polar codes, the authors introduce a physical layer encryption scheme to make secure (from a computational security perspective) and efficient communication between a sender (Alice) and a legitimate receiver (Bob) against both active and passive attacks, simultaneously. To prevent active attacks, two techniques are considered: (i) a novel method is introduced to keep the generator matrix of polar code secret from an active attacker (Oscar); (ii) a proper joint polar encoding/encryption algorithm based on the hidden generator matrix is introduced. Two additional strategies are considered against passive attacks: (i) a new method is introduced to partition the bit-channels into good and bad bit-channels and then the scrambled information bits are transmitted over those bit-channels that are good for Bob but bad for a passive attacker (Eve); (ii) the secret key cryptography is implemented at the physical layer, such that Eve cannot decode the eavesdropped data without the knowledge of the secret key shared between the authorised parties. Besides, this study discusses efficiency analysis results consisting key size, error performance and computational complexity of the proposed scheme.