Compiler-resistant Obfuscation Advances Quantum Circuit Protection with Minimal Overhead

Protecting the intellectual property embedded within quantum algorithms presents a growing challenge as quantum computing technology advances. Pradyun Parayil from Amrita School of Engineering, Amal Raj and Vivek Balachandran from the Singapore Institute of Technology, demonstrate a new method for concealing the structure of quantum circuits while maintaining their intended function. Their research introduces a technique using randomised transformations that effectively resists attempts at reverse engineering and structural analysis, a significant improvement over existing obfuscation methods. The team achieves over 93% accuracy in preserving the circuit’s functionality with minimal impact on processing time, representing a practical and effective step towards robust quantum software protection. This advance addresses a critical need for safeguarding valuable quantum algorithms and maintaining a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving field of quantum computation.

This work addresses the growing need to protect intellectual property embedded within quantum algorithms as the field advances. The method utilizes randomized U3 transformations, a type of basis transformation, to obscure gate identities throughout the circuit, preserving its original computational purpose. Experiments demonstrate that this approach introduces minimal runtime overhead while significantly hindering reverse engineering attempts.

The team implemented a four-phase process, beginning with accurate parsing of quantum circuits described in Quantum Assembly Language (QASM), supporting both OPENQASM 2.0. Following parsing, a random basis transformation is applied uniformly across the entire circuit, intentionally modeling a worst-case security scenario for analysis. This transformation alters the representation of quantum gates without changing the overall computation. The technique then reconstructs the circuit, ensuring compatibility with standard QASM formats and maintaining semantic equivalence to the original design.

Measurements confirm that the obfuscated circuits retain a high degree of accuracy, with the method achieving over 93% semantic accuracy in tests. This indicates that the obfuscation process does not significantly degrade the circuit’s ability to produce correct results. Furthermore, the team demonstrated strong resistance to structural inference, meaning that adversaries find it difficult to deduce the original algorithm from the obfuscated circuit. The weakest variant of the obfuscation framework, applying a single random basis transformation, served as the baseline design during development, with stronger variants offering even greater security.

This research delivers a practical and effective approach for securing quantum software and protecting valuable intellectual property in the emerging field of quantum computing.

Quantum Circuit Obfuscation Preserves Algorithm Functionality

This research presents a novel method for obfuscating quantum circuits, designed to protect intellectual property as quantum computing technology advances. The team developed a technique that utilizes randomized U3 transformations to conceal the underlying structure of quantum algorithms while maintaining their functionality. Evaluations across a diverse set of circuits, including those implementing Shor’s algorithm, QAOA, and Grover’s algorithm, demonstrate an average semantic accuracy of at least 93% with minimal impact on runtime performance. The method proves compatible with both OPENQASM 2.0 standards, facilitating seamless integration into existing quantum computing workflows.

These results indicate a practical and versatile approach to quantum software protection, offering strong resistance to reverse engineering and structural inference. While the current implementation employs a conservative single-basis variant, the per-gate randomized approach offers even stronger security guarantees. The authors acknowledge that future work will focus on improving scalability for larger algorithms and optimizing transformations for near-term, noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) hardware. Their research introduces a technique using randomised transformations that effectively resists attempts at reverse engineering and structural analysis, a significant improvement over existing obfuscation methods. The team achieves over 93% accuracy in preserving the circuit’s functionality with minimal impact on processing time, representing a practical and effective step towards robust quantum software protection. This advance addresses a critical need for safeguarding valuable quantum algorithms and maintaining a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving field of quantum computation.

Quantum algorithms are increasingly important, and as quantum computing advances, protecting the intellectual property contained within quantum circuits becomes ever more critical. Existing methods often provide limited defence against both structural and statistical analysis, or introduce considerable overhead.

The core idea revolves around applying randomized basis transformations (U3 gate conjugation) to the circuit’s structure without altering its functionality. This makes it harder for malicious actors to reverse engineer or copy the circuit.

The method is compatible with standard quantum assembly languages (OPENQASM 2.0) and can be implemented using existing quantum computing frameworks like Qiskit. Extensive testing on a diverse set of quantum algorithms demonstrates high semantic accuracy and minimal impact on output distributions. Runtime overhead is reported to be under 1ms.

The obfuscation aims to hinder reverse engineering and protect intellectual property in cloud-based quantum computing environments.