Developing a New Hybrid Cipher Algorithm using DNA and RC4

Abstract

This paper proposes a new hybrid security algorithm called RC4-DNA-Alg. It combines the symmetric stream cipher RC4 algorithm with DNA-indexing algorithm to provide secured data hiding with high complexity inside steganography framework. While RC4 represent one of the widely used algorithms in network security protocols, such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), a DNA cryptography considered as a modern branch of cryptography that combines the traditional cryptographic techniques with the power of the genetic material The performance evaluation of the proposed algorithm is measured based on three parameters (conditional entropy, randomness tests and encryption time). The result shows outperformance in security and distorted in hybrid Cipher compared to the native RC4. Keywords-Rivest Cipher 4 (RC4); Secure Sockets Layer (SSL); Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA); Rivest Cipher 4-Deoxyribonucleic acid-Algorithm (RC4-DNA-Alg)