A QPUF-Based Scheme for Secure and Adaptable Quantum Device Attestation in NISQ Devices

The rapid advancement of quantum computing has introduced a critical need for secure quantum device attestation to ensure that devices involved in computations are authentic.Existing solutions for quantum device attestation often rely on quantum memory or lack adaptability across diverse quantum computing platforms. To address these limitations, we propose a novel Quantum Physical Unclonable Function (QPUF)-based device attestation scheme that leverages the inherent noise of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ). Unlike existing methods, our approach eliminates the need for quantum memory and is compatible with various quantum hardware technologies.The proposed method uses a custom quantum circuit as a QPUF, combined with a challenge-response-based protocol, to establish secure and efficient quantum device attestation. We evaluated our approach on IBM quantum hardware, analyzing key metrics such as instability, randomness, and uniqueness of the QPUFs. Experimental results validate the feasibility of the proposed method and demonstrate its practical advantages for real-world quantum service provision.