RC4 is a symmetric stream cipher and variable key length algorithm. This symmetric key algorithm is used identically for encryption and decryption such that the data stream is simply XORed with the generated key sequence. The algorithm is serial as it requires successive exchanges of state entries based on the key sequence. The algorithm works in two phases:
Key Scheduling Algorithm(KSA):
- It is used to generate a State array by applying a permutation using a variable-length key consisting of 0 to 256 bytes.
- The state vector is identified as S[0], S[1]…. S[255] is initialized with {0, 1, 2, …, 255}. The key K[0], K[1], …., K[255] can be of any length from 0 to 256 bytes and is used to initialize permutation S. Each K[I] and S[I] is a byte.
- K is a temporary array if the length of the key is 256 bytes copy it to K else after copying the remaining positions of K are filled with repeated Key Values until full.
S[] is permutation of 0, 1, ..., 255 key[] contains N bytes of key for i = 0 to 255 S[i] = i // Selects a keystream byte from // the table K[i] = key[i (mod N)] i++ j = 0 for i = 0 to 255 j = (j + S[i] + K[i]) mod 256 // Swaps elements in the current // lookup table swap(S[i], S[j]) i = j = 0
Pseudo-Random Generation Algorithm(PRGA): It used to generate keystream byte from State vector array after one more round of permutation.
Keystream Generation(i := 0, j := 0 ) while Generating Output: i = (i + 1) mod 256 j = (j + S[i]) mod 256 swap(S[i], S[j]) t = (S[i] + S[j]) mod 256 keystreamByte = S[t] At each iteration, swap elements in table and select keystream byte
Then, perform XOR between the keystream generated and the plain text for encryption.
Follow the same procedure as above for decryption, taking cipher text in place of plain text everywhere.
Examples:
Input: plain text = 001010010010, key = 101001000001, n= 3
Output:
cipher text = 110011100011
decrypted text = 001010010010Input: plain text = 1111000000001111, key = 0101010111001010, n= 4
Output:
cipher text = 0011011110100010
decrypted text = 1111000000001111
Below is the implementation of the above approach with a detailed output of all the important steps involved:
# Python3 program for the above approach # of RC4 algorithm # Function for encryption def encryption():
global key, plain_text, n
# Given text and key
plain_text = "001010010010"
key = "101001000001"
# n is the no: of bits to
# be considered at a time
n = 3
print ( "Plain text : " , plain_text)
print ( "Key : " , key)
print ( "n : " , n)
print ( " " )
# The initial state vector array
S = [i for i in range ( 0 , 2 * * n)]
print ( "S : " , S)
key_list = [key[i:i + n] for i in range ( 0 , len (key), n)]
# Convert to key_stream to decimal
for i in range ( len (key_list)):
key_list[i] = int (key_list[i], 2 )
# Convert to plain_text to decimal
global pt
pt = [plain_text[i:i + n] for i in range ( 0 , len (plain_text), n)]
for i in range ( len (pt)):
pt[i] = int (pt[i], 2 )
print ( "Plain text ( in array form ): " , pt)
# Making key_stream equal
# to length of state vector
diff = int ( len (S) - len (key_list))
if diff ! = 0 :
for i in range ( 0 , diff):
key_list.append(key_list[i])
print ( "Key list : " , key_list)
print ( " " )
# Perform the KSA algorithm
def KSA():
j = 0
N = len (S)
# Iterate over the range [0, N]
for i in range ( 0 , N):
# Find the key
j = (j + S[i] + key_list[i]) % N
# Update S[i] and S[j]
S[i], S[j] = S[j], S[i]
print (i, " " , end = "")
# Print S
print (S)
initial_permutation_array = S
print ( " " )
print ( "The initial permutation array is : " ,
initial_permutation_array)
print ( "KSA iterations : " )
print ( " " )
KSA()
print ( " " )
# Perform PGRA algorithm
def PGRA():
N = len (S)
i = j = 0
global key_stream
key_stream = []
# Iterate over [0, length of pt]
for k in range ( 0 , len (pt)):
i = (i + 1 ) % N
j = (j + S[i]) % N
# Update S[i] and S[j]
S[i], S[j] = S[j], S[i]
print (k, " " , end = "")
print (S)
t = (S[i] + S[j]) % N
key_stream.append(S[t])
# Print the key stream
print ( "Key stream : " , key_stream)
print ( " " )
print ( "PGRA iterations : " )
print ( " " )
PGRA()
# Performing XOR between generated
# key stream and plain text
def XOR():
global cipher_text
cipher_text = []
for i in range ( len (pt)):
c = key_stream[i] ^ pt[i]
cipher_text.append(c)
XOR()
# Convert the encrypted text to
# bits form
encrypted_to_bits = ""
for i in cipher_text:
encrypted_to_bits + = '0' * (n - len ( bin (i)[ 2 :])) + bin (i)[ 2 :]
print ( " " )
print ( "Cipher text : " , encrypted_to_bits)
encryption() print ( "---------------------------------------------------------" )
# Function for decryption of data def decryption():
# The initial state vector array
S = [i for i in range ( 0 , 2 * * n)]
key_list = [key[i:i + n] for i in range ( 0 , len (key), n)]
# Convert to key_stream to decimal
for i in range ( len (key_list)):
key_list[i] = int (key_list[i], 2 )
# Convert to plain_text to decimal
global pt
pt = [plain_text[i:i + n] for i in range ( 0 , len (plain_text), n)]
for i in range ( len (pt)):
pt[i] = int (pt[i], 2 )
# making key_stream equal
# to length of state vector
diff = int ( len (S) - len (key_list))
if diff ! = 0 :
for i in range ( 0 , diff):
key_list.append(key_list[i])
print ( " " )
# KSA algorithm
def KSA():
j = 0
N = len (S)
# Iterate over the range [0, N]
for i in range ( 0 , N):
j = (j + S[i] + key_list[i]) % N
# Update S[i] and S[j]
S[i], S[j] = S[j], S[i]
print (i, " " , end = "")
print (S)
initial_permutation_array = S
print ( " " )
print ( "The initial permutation array is : " ,
initial_permutation_array)
print ( "KSA iterations : " )
print ( " " )
KSA()
print ( " " )
# Perform PRGA algorithm
def do_PGRA():
N = len (S)
i = j = 0
global key_stream
key_stream = []
# Iterate over the range
for k in range ( 0 , len (pt)):
i = (i + 1 ) % N
j = (j + S[i]) % N
# Update S[i] and S[j]
S[i], S[j] = S[j], S[i]
print (k, " " , end = "")
print (S)
t = (S[i] + S[j]) % N
key_stream.append(S[t])
print ( "Key stream : " , key_stream)
print ( " " )
print ( "PGRA iterations : " )
print ( " " )
do_PGRA()
# Perform XOR between generated
# key stream and cipher text
def do_XOR():
global original_text
original_text = []
for i in range ( len (cipher_text)):
p = key_stream[i] ^ cipher_text[i]
original_text.append(p)
do_XOR()
# convert the decrypted text to
# the bits form
decrypted_to_bits = ""
for i in original_text:
decrypted_to_bits + = '0' * (n - len ( bin (i)[ 2 :])) + bin (i)[ 2 :]
print ( " " )
print ( "Decrypted text : " ,
decrypted_to_bits)
# Driver Code decryption() |
Plain text : 001010010010 Key : 101001000001 n : 3 S : [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] Plain text ( in array form ): [1, 2, 2, 2] Key list : [5, 1, 0, 1, 5, 1, 0, 1] KSA iterations : 0 [5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 0, 6, 7] 1 [5, 7, 2, 3, 4, 0, 6, 1] 2 [5, 2, 7, 3, 4, 0, 6, 1] 3 [5, 2, 7, 0, 4, 3, 6, 1] 4 [5, 2, 7, 0, 6, 3, 4, 1] 5 [5, 2, 3, 0, 6, 7, 4, 1] 6 [5, 2, 3, 0, 6, 7, 4, 1] 7 [1, 2, 3, 0, 6, 7, 4, 5] The initial permutation array is : [1, 2, 3, 0, 6, 7, 4, 5] PGRA iterations : 0 [1, 3, 2, 0, 6, 7, 4, 5] 1 [1, 3, 6, 0, 2, 7, 4, 5] 2 [1, 3, 6, 2, 0, 7, 4, 5] 3 [1, 3, 6, 2, 0, 7, 4, 5] Key stream : [7, 1, 6, 1] Cipher text : 110011100011 --------------------------------------------------------- KSA iterations : 0 [5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 0, 6, 7] 1 [5, 7, 2, 3, 4, 0, 6, 1] 2 [5, 2, 7, 3, 4, 0, 6, 1] 3 [5, 2, 7, 0, 4, 3, 6, 1] 4 [5, 2, 7, 0, 6, 3, 4, 1] 5 [5, 2, 3, 0, 6, 7, 4, 1] 6 [5, 2, 3, 0, 6, 7, 4, 1] 7 [1, 2, 3, 0, 6, 7, 4, 5] The initial permutation array is : [1, 2, 3, 0, 6, 7, 4, 5] Key stream : [7, 1, 6, 1] PGRA iterations : 0 [1, 3, 2, 0, 6, 7, 4, 5] 1 [1, 3, 6, 0, 2, 7, 4, 5] 2 [1, 3, 6, 2, 0, 7, 4, 5] 3 [1, 3, 6, 2, 0, 7, 4, 5] Decrypted text : 001010010010