Scribd
Upload
18 views15 pages

The RC4 Algorithm: Network Security

RC4 is a variable key-size stream cipher designed by Ron Rivest in 1987, primarily used in SSL/TLS and WEP/WPA protocols for secure communication. The algorithm consists of a Key Scheduling Algorithm (KSA) and a Pseudo-Random Generation Algorithm (PRGA) to generate a keystream for encryption and decryption. Despite some vulnerabilities identified in research, RC4 remains secure with a reasonable key length, such as 128 bits.

Uploaded by

lidvitha29
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
18 views15 pages

The RC4 Algorithm: Network Security

RC4 is a variable key-size stream cipher designed by Ron Rivest in 1987, primarily used in SSL/TLS and WEP/WPA protocols for secure communication. The algorithm consists of a Key Scheduling Algorithm (KSA) and a Pseudo-Random Generation Algorithm (PRGA) to generate a keystream for encryption and decryption. Despite some vulnerabilities identified in research, RC4 remains secure with a reasonable key length, such as 128 bits.

Uploaded by

lidvitha29
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 15

The RC4 Algorithm

Network Security

1
The RC4 Algorithm
• RC4 is a stream cipher
designed in 1987 by
Ron Rivest for RSA
Security.
• It is a variable key-size
stream cipher with
byte-oriented
operations.

2
The RC4 Algorithm
• RC4 is used in the
Secure Sockets
Layer/Transport Layer
Security (SSL/TLS)
standards that have
been defined for
communication
between Web
browsers and servers.

3
The RC4 Algorithm
• Also used in the Wired
Equivalent Privacy
(WEP) protocol and
the newer WiFi
Protected Access
(WPA) protocol that
are part of the IEEE
802.11 wireless LAN
standard.

4
The RC4 Algorithm
A generic
view

5
The RC4 Algorithm
• The RC4 algorithm is
remarkably simple.
• A variable-length key
of from 1 to 256 bytes
Secret Key (8 to 2048 bits) is used
to initialize a 256-byte
state vector S, with
RC4
elements S[0],
S[1], . . . , S[255].
Keystream

Encrypted
Plain Text + Text
6
The RC4 Algorithm
• For encryption and
decryption, a byte k is
generated from S by
selecting one of the
255 entries in a
systematic fashion.
• As each value of k is
generated, the entries
in S are once again
permuted.

7
RC4 …Inside
• Consists of 2 parts:
– Key Scheduling Algorithm (KSA)
– Pseudo-Random Generation
Algorithm (PRGA)

• KSA
– Generate State array KSA
• PRGA on the KSA PRGA
– Generate keystream
– XOR keystream with the
data to generated
encrypted stream
The KSA

• Use the secret key to initialize and permutation of state


vector S, done in two steps
• Use 8-bit index pointers i and j

1 2

[S], S is set equal to the values from 0 to 255


S[0]=0, S[1]=1,…, S[255]=255
• Use T to produce initial permutation of S
[T], A temporary vector • The only operation on S is a swap;
[K], Array of bytes of secret key S still contains number from 0 to 255

After KSA, the input key and the temporary vector T will be no longer used
The PRGA

• Generate key stream k , one by one


• XOR S[k] with next byte of message to encrypt/decrypt

i = j = 0;
While (more_byte_to_encrypt)
i = (i + 1) (mod 256);
j = (j + S[i]) (mod 256);
swap(S[i], S[j]);
k = (S[i] + S[j]) (mod 256);
Ci = Mi XOR S[k];

Sum of shuffled pair selects "stream key" value


from permutation
RC4 Lookup Stage
• The output byte is selected by looking up the values of S[i] and S[j], adding
them together modulo 256, and then looking up the sum in S
• S [S[i] + S[j]] is used as a byte of the key stream, K

i = j = 0;
While (more_byte_to_encrypt)
i = (i + 1) (mod 256);
j = (j + S[i]) (mod 256);
swap(S[i], S[j]);
k = (S[i] + S[j]) (mod 256);
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RC4.svg Ci = Mi XOR S[k];
Detailed Diagram
Overall Operation of RC4
The RC4 Algorithm

• To encrypt, XOR the value k with the next byte


of plaintext.
• To decrypt, XOR the value k with the next byte
of ciphertext.

14
The RC4 Algorithm
Strength of RC4:
• A number of papers
have been published
analyzing methods of
attacking RC4.
• None of these
approaches is
practical against RC4
with a reasonable key
length, such as 128
bits.
15

You might also like