Multi-path Security in Quantum Networks with Trusted Nodes

arXiv:2610.26120v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Quantum communication networks promise information-theoretic security but this security collapses if intermediate relay nodes are compromised, a risk that grows sharply when compromised nodes cannot be identified. We address this twofold: first, we show that multi-path routing provides quantifiable protection against unidentified compromised nodes. Second, we provide a comprehensive statistical and graph-theoretic analysis of network and node security under compromise, covering full and partial node compromise, optimal placement of additional edges via an iterative method, and comparative hacking-probability analysis across network topologies. Together, these results identify the topology and multi-path routing strategy that most improves security for a given network. We apply this framework to quantum key distribution across multiple network topologies, demonstrating a scalable route to secure, reliable quantum communication under realistic, unidentified adversarial threats, without relying on quantum memory.