Hybrid Cryptographic System for Network Security

Abstract

With the fast evolution of digital data exchange, security information becomes much important in data storage and transmission. Due to the increasing use of digital data in industrial process, it is essential to protect the confidential data from unauthorized access. To address these security concerns, various security protocols that are of symmetric key and asymmetric key type have been developed. In this paper, we present a software implementation of hybrid cryptographic system that combines the symmetric algorithm, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and the asymmetric algorithm (ElGamal). This hybrid algorithm that has been implemented also considers how to take care of the integrity of data using Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1). AES is used to encrypt data and thanks to its efficiency and security; it can execute at high speeds, and consume less computer resources of memory and processor time. However, AES algorithm suffers the distribution problem. ElGamal algorithm is used to encrypt AES key for key security and to solve key distribution problem.