Enhancing the performance of cryptographic algorithms for secured data transmission

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Assa-Agyei, K, 2024. Enhancing the performance of cryptographic algorithms for secured data transmission. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

Cryptography is crucial in the digital age for protecting data integrity, verifying users and entities, and maintaining the secrecy of sensitive information. This is accomplished by utilizing various cryptographic techniques such as symmetric-key and asymmetric-key encryption, digital signatures, and secure communication protocols. These strategies collectively create a thorough defense strategy to prevent unauthorized access, enhancing the overall security of digital data in today's environment. This study has pinpointed various research gaps linked to the two categories of cryptographic algorithms and proposed innovative approaches to address these gaps. The study not only identified areas where further research is needed but also recommended novel strategies to tackle these gaps effectively. This dissertation's primary contributions are:

(1) This study empirically evaluates the performance of widely utilized symmetric algorithms, including AES, Blowfish, 3DES, and Twofish. The assessment includes important measurements like encryption and decryption times, throughput, and memory utilization. The objective is to conduct a thorough investigation of the efficiency and usefulness of these cryptographic methods in real-world situations. The findings reveal that the AES algorithm with a 256-bit key size exhibits the highest encryption time compared to AES with 128-bit and 192-bit key sizes. The specific average encryption times are as follows: (1) AES-128: Average encryption time of 0.057 seconds (2) AES-192: Average encryption time of 0.049 seconds and (3) AES-256: Average encryption time of 0.038 seconds. The experimental results demonstrate that AES excels over alternative symmetric encryption techniques in terms of both encryption and decryption speeds, along with overall throughput. Furthermore, the findings establish that the Blowfish algorithm can compete with AES in terms of encryption and decryption speed.

(2) This study conducts a practical evaluation of commonly used asymmetric algorithms, specifically RSA and ECC, focusing on key parameters such as key exchange time, encryption and decryption times, and signature generation and verification times. The investigation uses secure email communication as a case study to analyze the real-world performance of these cryptographic algorithms. Additionally, the research proposes a hybrid cryptography algorithm that combines both RSA and ECC to enhance security and confidentiality in secure email communication. The proposed hybrid algorithm demonstrated an average key exchange time of 0.064191 seconds, which is faster compared to ECC and RSA. For a larger file size of 500 MB, the proposed hybrid algorithm achieved average encryption and decryption times of 0.832917 seconds and 0.636395 seconds, respectively. In comparison, the ECC algorithm recorded average encryption and decryption times of 0.866455 seconds and 0.753799 seconds, respectively with a minimal disparity in runtime compared to ECC, indicating improved efficiency. Experimental results also highlight ECC's advantages in Key Exchange Time, making it a preferable choice for establishing secure email channels, especially for larger file sizes. While RSA shows a slight edge in efficiency for smaller files, the hybrid encryption algorithm optimizes key exchange times, encryption efficiency, and signature generation and verification times.

(3) This research introduces novel strategies to enhance the performance of existing cryptographic algorithms, specifically AES and RSA, by addressing identified research gaps. To achieve this, the study incorporates performance optimization techniques and numeric functions aimed at improving both the efficiency and security of data transmission. Specifically, Multi-Chaotic AES demonstrated notable improvements in performance compared to standard AES. It achieved faster encryption times with reductions ranging from approximately 50% to over 70%.

Additionally, Multi-Chaotic AES exhibited enhanced decryption efficiency, showing time reductions of about 40% to over 70%. These results underscore the substantial performance gains of Multi-Chaotic AES in both encryption and decryption processes. Similarly, for the Modified RSA algorithm, notable improvements were observed. For instance, at a key size of 1024 bits, traditional RSA requires an average key generation time of 111 milliseconds. In contrast, the NGOA-DE-RSA approach significantly reduces this time to 55 milliseconds. This trend of improved performance extends to other metrics as well, with NGOA-DE-RSA consistently outperforming the standard RSA algorithm.

Finally, this study proposes a hybrid approach incorporating both modified AES and RSA and assesses its performance relative to existing hybrid techniques. Remarkably, the proposed algorithms exhibit significantly improved prediction accuracy across various metrics, including process times, throughput, memory utilization, and security.

In summary, this thesis makes significant contributions to applied cryptography by introducing innovative techniques designed to enhance data transmission security. The research presented in this thesis offers valuable insights and novel approaches that contribute to the advancement of cryptographic practices in practical applications, particularly in the realm of secure data transmission.

Item Type:	Thesis
Creators:	Assa-Agyei, K.
Contributors:	Name Role NTU ID ORCID Owa, K. Thesis supervisor UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Al-Hadhrami, T. Thesis supervisor UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Olajide, F. Thesis supervisor UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
Date:	July 2024
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	06 Jan 2025 16:18
Last Modified:	06 Jan 2025 16:18
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52784