Mention chaos theory to the average technophile and the
first thing that comes to mind is Geoff Goldblum's monolog from "Jurassic
Park." There are, however, more practical applications for chaos than
science fiction, as researchers from Kyoto University have recently
demonstrated with a new type of cipher that relies on chaos to provide
security.
The Vector Stream Cipher, or VSC, is like an advanced lock
for digital information. Ciphers have been used in the cyber security community
for decades, but the VSC is different because it uses true randomness to create
the number sequences that comprise a given security "key." Recent
testing confirms that it's extremely secure.
What
Is a Cipher?
To understand the significance of VSC, you've got to
understand cyber security and specifically, encryption. To encrypt something is
to translate it into code language, which explains why encryption has become a
popular security measure recently. If you have sensitive data that others might
find valuable, you can encrypt it. Even if the data is stolen, it won't be
compromised.
Encryption is nothing new to computer security. Over the
years, increasingly sophisticated encryption standards have been developed to
prevent someone from "cracking" the code. Today 128-bit
encryption is commonly used in data security.
To make the encrypted data visible on secure computers,
you need a key that tells the computer how to read the encrypted code. That key
must be hard to guess for the system to be secure. The mechanism that creates
the key is called a cipher. Until now, ciphers
relied on patterns of equations and numerical relationships - but
VSC is different.
When
Chaos Equals Security
Computer encryption would be incredibly difficult to
decode for even the best human cryptographers. But in the world of
cybersecurity, you've got to do better than that. Even though it might take
your desktop computer the better part of eight thousand years to decrypt a code
as old as the famous Enigma code from World War II, the quantum
computers of tomorrow could potentially perform the task much quicker.
If you can reverse-engineer the cipher that's used to
encrypt a document, you can decrypt it much faster. Many conventional ciphers
use algorithms that can be "guessed" by powerful computers, this is
commonly called a brute-force technique. VSC, however, is nearly invulnerable
to these types of attacks.
The reason for this is because VSC can generate keys that
are actually random - that means no amount of reverse-engineering will ever
discover the algorithm used the generate the key. While today's RSA, Blowfish
and AES standards provide enough security for most applications, it's difficult
to demonstrate their level of security.
Tomorrow's
Encryption - Today
The team at Kyoto has successfully tested VSC and shows it
to be resilient against brute-force and other types of attacks. The standard
was being tested as far back as 2004, however, until recently there was no way
to demonstrate what made it stand out compared to other, more conventional
ciphers. One of the tests used to show VSC's security is designed specifically to
test randomness.
Adding to the promising new cipher's accolades, VSC is
much easier on resources than more traditional ciphers. This low footprint
means it consumes very little memory and could potentially see use in
industries like the telecom market, where broadcast television and network
communications rely on encryption to stay secure.
VSC
Continues to Evolve
Even though the Kyoto team already has an accomplishment
on their hands with VSC, they aren't resting. They have already identified
three specific areas where they want to improve on the current cipher, to make
it even more secure.
Will you see this technology in place on your next laptop?
Probably not. But a decade from now, you might be using the fifth or
sixth-generation equivalent of VSC, or a similarly engineered product.
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About the Author
Kayla Matthews is a tech-loving blogger who writes and edits ProductivityBytes.com. Follow her on Twitter to read all of her latest posts!