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 An Efficient Operator based Unicode cryptography Algorithm for Text,
Audio and Video Files

R.Sumathi *, R.Sundarrajan **

ABSTRACT

There are many aspects to security and The same plaintext will encrypt to different
many applications, ranging from secure cipher text in a stream cipher .This
commerce and payments to private algorithm increases the complexity of
communications and protecting passwords. solving the cipher text when handled by
One essential aspect for secure intruders. Thereby it provides extremely
communications is that of secret key better security for all type of files.
cryptography, which the focus of this paper.
INTRODUCTION
With secret key cryptography, a
Cryptography is the practice and
single key is used for both encryption and
study of hiding information. In modern
decryption. The key selection mechanism
times, cryptography is considered a branch
and the encoding methodology express the
of both mathematics and computer science,
efficiency of the cipher text generated. In
and is affiliated closely with information
this paper, a new method of encoding
theory, computer security, and engineering.
technique using the mathematical operators
over Unicode character set facilitates better
Cryptography is used in applications
encoding algorithm.
present in technologically advanced
societies; examples include the security of
ATM cards, computer passwords, and
* Assistant Professor,Dept of CSE,
J.J.College of Engg.& Tech.,Trichy-09. electronic commerce, which all depend on
cryptography.
Email ID: sumathi_rajmohan@yahoo.com
** Pre Final Year Student, Dept of CSE, J.J Cryptography refers to encryption,
College of Engg & Tech., Trichy-09 the process of converting ordinary
information (plaintext) into unintelligible Integrity: Assuring the receiver that the
cipher text Decryption is the reverse, received message has not been altered in any
moving from unintelligible cipher text to way from the original.
plaintext. A cipher is a pair of algorithms
Non-repudiation: A mechanism to prove
which creates the encryption and the
that the sender really sent this message.
reversing decryption. The detailed operation
of a cipher is controlled both by the Any new design of Cryptographic
algorithm and, in each instance, by a key. technique must accomplish the above
requisites. Cryptography not only protects
This is a secret parameter for a
data from theft or alteration, but can also be
specific message exchange context. Keys are
used for user authentication.
important, as ciphers without variable keys
are trivially breakable and therefore less CRYPTOGRAPHIC SCHEMES
than useful for most purposes. Historically,
In general, three types of
ciphers were often used directly for
cryptographic schemes typically used to
encryption or decryption, without additional
accomplish these goals:
procedures such as authentication or
integrity checks. 1. Secret Key Cryptography (SKC):

PRE REQUISITES Uses a single key for both encryption

and decryption
There are various security requirements for a
Cryptographic technique including:

Authentication: The process of proving 2. Public Key Cryptography (PKC):

one's identity. (The primary forms of host-
Uses one key for encryption and
to-host authentication on the Internet today
another for decryption
are name-based or address-based, both of
which are notoriously weak.) 3. Hash Functions:

Privacy/confidentiality: Ensuring that no Uses a mathematical transformation to

one can read the message except the irreversibly "encrypt" information
intended receiver.
 are the various cryptographic schemes whereas the same plaintext will encrypt to
available depending upon their different cipher text in a stream cipher.
application and ease of use.
Block ciphers can operate in one of several
SECRET KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY: modes; the following four are the most
important:
With secret key cryptography, a
single key is used for both encryption and Electronic Codebook (ECB) mode is the
decryption. As shown in Figure 1A, the simplest, most obvious application: the
sender uses the key (or some set of rules) to secret key is used to encrypt the plaintext
encrypt the plaintext and sends the cipher block to form a cipher text block. Two
text to the receiver. The receiver applies the identical plaintext blocks, then, will always
same key (or rule set) to decrypt the generate the same cipher text block.
message and recover the plaintext. Because Although this is the most common mode of
a single key is used for both functions, block ciphers, it is susceptible to a variety of
secret key cryptography is also called brute-force attacks.
symmetric encryption.
Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode adds
Secret key cryptography schemes are a feedback mechanism to the encryption
generally categorized as being either stream scheme. In CBC, the plaintext is
ciphers or block ciphers. Stream ciphers exclusively-O Red (XORed) with the
operate on a single bit (byte or computer previous cipher text block prior to
word) at a time and implement some form of encryption. In this mode, two identical
feedback mechanism so that the key is blocks of plaintext never encrypt to the same
constantly changing. A block cipher is so- cipher text.
called because the scheme encrypts one
block of data at a time using the same key
on each block. Cipher Feedback (CFB) mode is a block
cipher implementation as a self-
In general, the same plaintext block
synchronizing stream cipher. CFB mode
will always encrypt to the same cipher text
allows data to be encrypted in units smaller
when using the same key in a block cipher
than the block size, which might be useful in
some applications such as encrypting
interactive terminal input. If we were using block; 3DES is also described in FIPS 46-3
1-byte CFB mode, for example, each and is the recommended replacement to
incoming character is placed into a shift DES.
register the same size as the block,
DESX: A variant devised by Ron Rivets. By
encrypted, and the block transmitted. At the
combining 64 additional key bits to the
receiving side, the cipher text is decrypted
plaintext prior to encryption, effectively
and the extra bits in the block (i.e.,
increases the key length to 120 bits.
everything above and beyond the one byte)
are discarded. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES):-

Output Feedback (OFB) mode is a block This algorithm use a variable block length
cipher implementation conceptually similar and key length; the latest specification
to a synchronous stream cipher. OFB allowed any combination of keys lengths of
prevents the same plaintext block from 128, 192, or 256 bits and blocks of length
generating the same cipher text block by 128, 192, or 256 bits.
using an internal feedback mechanism that is
Similarly, there are Several
independent of both the plaintext and cipher
Algorithms like Blowfish, International Data
text bit streams.
Encryption Algorithm (IDEA),Two fish,
Secret key cryptography algorithms that are Camellia, Secure and Fast Encryption
in use today include Routine (SAFER),SEED, Skipjack.

Data Encryption Standard (DES): These are algorithms are designed

extending the ideas already available.
DES is a block-cipher employing a 56-bit
key that operates on 64-bit blocks. DES has
a complex set of rules and transformations
PUBLIC-KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY
that were designed specifically to yield fast
hardware implementations and slow Public-key cryptography has been
software implementations said to be the most significant new
development in secure communication over
Triple-DES (3DES): A variant of DES that
a non-secure communications channel
employs up to three 56-bit keys and makes
without having to share a secret key.
three encryption/decryption passes over the
Public Key Cryptography or Asymmetric PKC depends upon the existence of so-
cryptography provides the same message called one-way functions, or mathematical
security guarantees as symmetric functions that are easy to computer whereas
cryptography, but additionally provides the their inverse function is relatively difficult to
non-repudiation guarantee. ‘Asymmetric’ compute. Let me give you two simple
refers to the fact that different keys are used examples: In public-key cryptosystems, the
for encryption and decryption. public key may be freely distributed, while
its paired private key must remain secret.
One key is kept secret (‘secret key’)
The public key is typically used for
and the other is made public (‘public key’),
encryption, while the private or secret key is
and are both unique. The recipient’s public
used for decryption. Diffie and Hellman
key should be used during the encryption
showed that public-key cryptography was
process to ensure message confidentiality as
possible by presenting the Diffie-Hellman
only the recipient has the necessary secret
key exchange protocol
key to decrypt the message. If, however, the
message is encrypted using the sender’s In addition to encryption, public-key
private key the sender cannot deny sending cryptography can be used to implement
the message as his private key is unique and digital signature schemes. A digital
is only known to him. signature is reminiscent of an ordinary
signature; they both have the characteristic
Typical asymmetric algorithms
that they are easy for a user to produce, but
include RSA, ElGamal and DSA.
difficult for anyone else to forge. Digital
Asymmetric cryptography is extremely
signatures can also be permanently tied to
powerful, but this comes at a cost.
the content of the message being signed;
Especially for longer messages and keys, it
they cannot then be 'moved' from one
is much slower than its symmetric
document to another, for any attempt will be
cryptography counterparts. This is due in
detectable.
part to the fact that, in order to achieve
comparable security, asymmetric keys are In digital signature schemes, there
generally around an order of magnitude are two algorithms: one for signing, in
longer than symmetric keys. which a secret key is used to process the
message (or a hash of the message, or both),
and one for verification, in which the message, but encrypted using a public-key
matching public key is used with the algorithm. Similarly, hybrid signature
message to check the validity of the schemes are often used, in which a
signature. RSA and DSA are two of the cryptographic hash function is computed,
most popular digital signature schemes. and only the resulting hash is digitally
Digital signatures are central to the signed.
operation of public key infrastructures and
HASH FUNCTIONS
many network security schemes (e.g.,
SSL/TLS, many VPNs, etc). Hash functions, also called message digests
and one-way encryption, and are algorithms
Public-key algorithms are most often
that, in some sense, use no key. Instead, a
based on the computational complexity of
fixed-length hash value is computed based
"hard" problems, often from number theory.
upon the plaintext that makes it impossible
For example, the hardness of RSA is related
for either the contents or length of the
to the integer factorization problem.
plaintext to be recovered.
More recently, elliptic curve
Hash algorithms are typically used to
cryptography has developed in which
provide a digital fingerprint of a file's
security is based on number theoretic
contents often used to ensure that the file has
problems involving elliptic curves. Because
not been altered by an intruder or virus.
of the difficulty of the underlying problems,
Hash functions are also commonly
most public-key algorithms involve
employed by many operating systems to
operations such as modular multiplication
encrypt passwords. Hash functions, then,
and exponentiation, which are much more
provide a measure of the integrity of a file.
computationally expensive than the
techniques used in most block ciphers, Hash functions are sometimes
especially with typical key sizes. As a result, misunderstood and some sources claim that
public-key cryptosystems are commonly no two files can have the same hash value.
hybrid cryptosystems, in which a fast high- This is, in fact, not correct. Consider a hash
quality symmetric-key encryption algorithm function that provides a 128-bit hash value.
is used for the message itself, while the There are, obviously, 2128 possible hash
relevant symmetric key is sent with the values. But there are a lot more than 2128
possible files. Therefore, there have to be considered. This similarity can be depicted
multiple files in fact; there have to be an pictorial as follows.
infinite number of files.

By the above basics about the

VALUE 1
Cryptography and the study is about the
VALUE X
Cryptographic Schemes available and their *
methodology of handling keys and way of VALUE 2
Encoding generated each class of
Techniques.
The value x is definitely different
PROPOSED ALGORITHM: from the value of value 1 and value 2
depending upon the * operation and the
After discussed elaborately about the
values.
various cryptographic schemes available and
the structure about the algorithms for the Similarly in the Cryptography the
schemes, the paper is concerned towards the plain Text must be encoded into Cipher text
new design of “Operator based Encoding which must different from the original text
Technique with Unicode Character Set to ensure the security of the data transacted.
Support”.

PLAIN TEXT
OPERATORS IN ENCODING:
ENCODING
This algorithm is designed
considering the fact that “Every input plain CIPHER TEXT

text can be converted into numeric value

whatever may be its magnitude”.

When Numeric values are resulted In the above for the encoding
they can be used for mathematical operators operation performed, the plain text must be
resulting in a different solution than that of converted into cipher text which cannot be
the origin. recognized or more precisely the text which
is different from the original text.
This concept seems too analogous to
the Cryptography operation that we
 Therefore from this we can define It is 16 bit based character set which
the cipher text in cryptography as the text encompasses every character available in all
that is different from the original text where the formats of files available.
the difference needs elongated complex
Therefore we came across two basic
procedures to be followed.
steps in this design which includes,
Hence we have proved that an
1. Converting any given plain text
operator based algorithm can be used as
into numeric values based on
Encoding technique to generate the required
Unicode mapping.
cipher text.
2. After numeric mapping the Text
UNICODE SUPPORT:
input is in operable form which is
Now we established that the operated through different
mathematical operators can be used for operators and the required result
encoding. Such encoding is possible if and once again mapped using
only if the given plain text (any text) must Unicode character set.
be converted into operable manner.
Hence the algorithm basic design is
Operable manner means that the completed using Unicode support
plain text must be converted into numbers over operators.
for operation over them.
PLAIN TEXT CIPHER TEXT
Such a mapping for every character
into a numeric value is possible only in
Unicode character set. In order to convert
UNICODE FORM OPERATOR F(x)
any text into number Unicode character set
support is needed.

In Unicode character set, there are

65536 characters available and is a common SECURITY BY FEED-BACK:
standard worldwide independent of the
One of the major properties of the
languages used.
cryptography is the key providing concept
which provides security as well as of Feedback based Security the
authorization. algorithm is designed as,

From the above, the Unicode 1. The First character alone is

mapping and operator based encoding favors added directly with the security
the generation of cipher text but the security key.
is not discussed.
2. The following character is
In order to provide security we shall operated by above designed
bind a numeric key as security with the method over the first and then the
cipher text generated in the above method. result is made operated towards
the next and soon.
Here we have multiple ways for key
binding with the cipher text to be generated. 3. This kind of Feedback based
security illustrates that the same
1. Entire Text Binding:
character is mapped into different
Due to usage of numeric cipher text depending on the
values to generate the cipher text the presence of the character at
usage of key in numbers is possible. various positions in Plain Text.
It is possible to add each character
4. It is called Feed Back based
with key. But it yields a worst
security because the key for the
method of security since the key will
current character under process
be spread over the text uniformly
of encoding depends on the
which cannot be efficient which is
previous input character.
similar to X-shifting the numeric
value bonded with the cipher text. Indirectly in this kind of Security, we have
built the security for whole cipher text This
Hence this method of key binding
algorithm since provides a key it comes
can be mostly avoided.
under the mechanism of Secret Key
2. Feed Back based Security: Cryptography discussed in the basics of this
paper.
Analyzing the failure of the
Entire Text Binding, in the method
 FIRST INPUT FROM FILE
SECRET
TO BE ENCODED

CURRENT INPUT FROM OPERATOR

FILE BASED
ALGORITH
M FOR
GENERATI
NEXT INPUT FROM FILE NG CIPHER
TO BE ENCODED TEXT

UNICODE
FILE TO BE CHARACTER SET

Mapped to respective Cipher

Text

OUTPUT FILE – CIPHER

ALGORITHM FOR ENCODING:

No Repetition: Operatebasedencode ()
In this algorithm, no
{
repetition of cipher text for the same
character throughout the plain text occurs, Read currentin from input file
which is considered to be a demerit of the
Add secretkey with currentin
secret key cryptography which we have
cleared in this algorithm. // any other operator can be employed
The algorithm is designed as follows
Start loop until endof inputfile
based on the statements concluded above.
Pastcharin=currentin
 Read currentin from input file Hence it is working
fine for all the set of files since it uses
Precipherchar=pastcharin * currentin Unicode support for character mapping.

Place Mapoverunicode( Now the secret key applied by

precipherchar) in Outputfile applied in this algorithm is feedback based
which undergo following criteria
End loop
1. The key applied will be a numeric
} value which must be unique
considered upon user.
Mapoverunicode(precipherchar)
2. Since it uses Unicode character set
{ support the no of unique values will
be from 0-65536.
Search given precipherchar in
Unicode Character Set 3. The number of keys used in the
algorithm range is small and is
Return the appropriate character possible to exceed over 65536 but it
recycles within the range.(without
}
using modulus operator)
This algorithm uses feedback based
SERIAL DIGIT SECRET KEY:
secret key in which the key is bonded with
the cipher text indirectly and so no repetition Now in order to clear these criteria the key
is allowed. can be applied to cipher text in blocks by
blocks.
VALIDITY OF SECRET KEY:
The operation needs a range of
The above algorithm is tested so
numbers where every figure in the key
many times and it is working fine for the
provided will be added in blocks to the
input files of various types like text files,
entire cipher text.
documents, and even mp3 files (Audio
Files) and video files. Suppose that for a text
“COMPUTER” for certain encoding it may
result in “2we45r6/” and the key provided in the scheme is the key can be
while encoding is “1532”.then the operation any range larger.
of encoding can simply depicted as,
3. Since simple users of encoding in
this method have to memorize a
2 w e 4 5 r 6 / series of digits without fail to
obtain the document clearly.
1 5 3 2 1 5 3 2
STRING STRUCTURE KEY BIND:

In order to increase the

CIPHER TEXT
difference of key bonded with the cipher
text which is only 0-9 arrived a solution as

Depending on the * operator used, follows in this method namely “STRING

the key is added with the cipher text in STRUCTURE KEY BIND”.

blocks and hence the range of Unicode is

1. The key here handled may be a
different which is better than feedback
series of characters instead of
system.
numbers.

Here we can note that the key size

2. The string binded can have Unicode
can range from 0 – size of the file. Hence by
equivalent values that are larger than
this method the user can add key to the
the range 0-9.
cipher text up to a larger range when
compared to feed back based system. 3. The characters each in the key string
can range from 0-65536 each.
Limitations in this method:
4. The length of the key can be large
1. Even though the key is a series of
enough equivalent to the size of the
digits, the numeric value added
input file which is the maximum
with each character range from
value.
0-9.
5. Even though the key can be severely
2. This mild difference again
large, the optimal performance can
checks the security and needs
further study and the advantage
 be maintained by the user’s decision
over the peak value to be handled.

6. Since it is a series of characters i.e.

string, a meaningful string for
average users can help them to
remember enough to recover their
documents.

Hence upon the various schemes of key

binding discussed the string structure secret
key again using Unicode support is better
and even best of the key binding techniques
discussed.

Here using various schemes for

secret key does not mean the congestion of
ideas in illustrating the secret key but it is a
real time derivation for deciding the best
secret key technique. Once again we can
notice that the string structure secret key
holding the property “no repetition”.