RSA and RC4 Cryptosystem Performance Evaluation Using Image and Text

International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 5, May-2015
ISSN 2229-5518
IJSER © 2015
http://www.ijser.org
RSA and RC4 Cryptosystem Performance
Evaluation Using Image and Text File
Akinyele A. Okedola, Yekini N. Asafe
Abstract— The process of transforming plaintext data into cipher text in order to conceal its meaning in case it fall to hand of unauthorized
recipient is refers to as encryption. The systems that perform the encryption processes are known as cryptosystems, there are s everal
cryptosystem algorithms: RSA, RC4, DES, 3DES, Blowfish, AES, IDEA, Skipjack, DSA, ElGamal, etc. The major features that identify and
differentiate one cryptosystem algorithm from another are its ability to secure the protected data against attacks and its speed/efficiency. In
this paper: application software was designed to implement RSA, and RCA encryption algorithms with advanced features of visual Basic 6
for the front end interface. Microsoft Access is used to design backend of the application, and the Macromedia Flash was also used to
incorporate dynamic features that enhance the appearance of the application. The program was used to compare the performance of RSA
and RC4. The encryption operation was carried out for both RSA and RC4 using five text files and five graphic files of different sizes 10, 50,
100, 150, and 200 kilobyte respectively. The major factor considered for measuring the performance of the algorithms (RSA and RC4) is
the speed of execution using time of execution (TE) as parameter for the evaluation. The performance result was presented and analyzed.
We discovered that the RC4 is better compare to RSA algorithm based on the experimental facts presented and the result analysis of the
two evaluated algorithms.
Index Terms: cipher text, cryptosystems, encryption, decryption, RSA algorithm, RC4 algorithm,
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION
NE of means of protecting information as it is stored on
communication paths is cryptography. A cryptography
system provides the following services: Confidentiality-It
ensures that no unauthorised parties can access information
except the intended receiver. Authenticity-validating the
source of the message to ensure the sender is properly identi-
fied; Integrity-provides assurance that the message was not
modified during transmission, accidentally or intentionally
and Non-repudiation-This means that a sender cannot deny
sending the message at a later date and the receiver cannot
deny receiving it [1]. Cryptography does refer to as "the study
of secret" in that case cryptosystem performs two functions:
Hidden plain text from intruders i.e., converting plain text to
cipher text (encryption), and unhidden the data to the authen-
tic users (decryption). Fig.1 shows the simple flow of com-
monly used encryption algorithms [2].
Fig.1 Encryption-Decryption Flow
Cryptography system must focus on the following: Authenti-
cation: The process of proving one’s identity. This means that
before sending and receiving data using the system, the re-
ceiver and sender identity should be verified, Priva-
cy/confidentiality: Ensuring that no one can read the message
except the intended receiver. Usually this function is how
most people identify a secure system. It means that only the
authenticated people are able to interpret the message content
and no one else, Integrity: Assuring the receiver that the re-
ceived message has not been altered in any way from the orig-
inal. The basic form of integrity is packet check sum in IPv4
packets, Non-repudiation: A mechanism to prove that the
sender really sent this message. Means that neither the sender
nor the receiver can falsely deny that they have sent a certain
message, and Service Reliability and Availability: Since secure
systems usually get attacked by intruders, which may affect
their availability and type of service to their users. Such sys-
tems provide a way to grant their users the quality of service
they expect [3].
As the importance and the value of exchanged data over the
Internet or other media types are increasing, the search for the
best solution to offer the necessary protection against the in-
truders' attacks along with providing these services under
timely manner is one of the most active subjects in the security
related communities. In order to evaluate the performance of
the compared algorithms, the parameters that the algorithms
must be tested for must be determined.
Since all algorithms has the security features to protect the
data against intruder. The major factor to determine the per-
formance is the algorithm's speed to encrypt/decrypt data
blocks of various sizes. This paper present a fair comparison
between the two most common and used algorithms (RSA and
RC4) in the data encryption field. Our main concern here is the
performance of these algorithms under different settings; the
presented comparison takes into consideration the behavior
and the performance of the algorithm when different data
loads are used, and the major criteria used is speed of pro-
cessing with particular reference to execution time.
1.2 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of this study is to develop an application for encryp-
tion of image and text using RC4 and RSA Algorithm.
O

International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 6, Issue 4, April-2015
ISSN 2229-5518
IJSER © 2015
The specific objectives to be met are:
 To design a model for RC4 and RSA algorithm.
 To develop application for the model and evaluate the
performance of RC4 and RSA Algorithms using text
and image file.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In a network scenario where data are to be transmitted from
one medium to another, the transmitting data may be hijacked
by intruder. Several cryptosystems algorithm are available to
make data become useless to hijacker or intruders. Hence
there is need to evaluate performance analysis in other to
choose the best of among the algorithms.
1.3 Scope of the Study
This work will focus on:
 Theoretical Analysis of RSA and RC4 algorithms will
be defined and analyzed on paper mathematically to
achieve image and text encryption and decryption.
 Practice: The theoretical mathematical algorithm de-
fined above will be used practically to demonstrate
the implementation of image and text encryption and
decryption for evaluation purposes.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The significant of this study are to contribute:
 To choose a standard encryption to serve as a refer-
ence point upon which other encryptions should be
benchmarked.
 To ensure and assure integrity of the data being pro-
tected.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Cryptography Goals
There are five (5) main goals of security system which in-
cludes: Authentication: This means that before sending and
receiving data using the system, the receiver and sender iden-
tity should be verified; Secrecy or Confidentiality: Usually this
function (feature) is how most people identify a secure system.
It means that only the authenticated people are able to inter-
pret the message (date) content and no one else; Integrity: In-
tegrity means that the content of the communicated data is
assured to be free from any type of modification between the
end points (sender and receiver). The basic form of integrity is
packet check sum in IPv4 packets; Non-Repudiation: This
function implies that neither the sender nor the receiver can
falsely deny that they have sent a certain message; Service
Reliability and Availability: Since secure systems usually get
attacked by intruders, which may affect their availability and
type of service to their users [4].
2.2 Performance Parameters of Encryption
Techniques
Some of the parameters on which encryption techniques are
evaluated are [5]: Visual Degradation (VD): This criterion
measures the perceptual distortion of the image data with re-
spect to the plain image; Compression Friendliness (CF): An
encryption scheme is considered compression friendly if it has
no or very little impact on data compression efficiency. Format
Compliance (FC): The encrypted bit stream should be compli-
ant with the compressor and standard decoder should be able
to decode the encrypted bit stream without decryption. This
property is important because it allows preserving some fea-
tures of the compression algorithm used (e.g., scalability);
Speed (S): In many real-time applications, it is important that
the encryption and decryption algorithms are fast enough to
meet real time requirements; Cryptographic Security (CS):
Cryptographic security defines whether encryption scheme is
secure against brute force and different plaintext-cipher text
attack; Encryption Ratio (ER): This criterion measures the
amount of data to be encrypted. Encryption ratio has to be
minimized to reduce computational complexity. The encryp-
tion ratio is given byER=ne/n.
2.3 RC4 Algorithms and its Features
In cryptography, RC4 is the most widely used software stream
cipher and is used in popular protocols such as Transport
Layer Security (TLS) (to protect Internet traffic) and WEP (to
secure wireless networks). RC4 is a stream cipher, symmetric
key algorithm. The same algorithm is used for both encryption
and decryption as the data stream is simply XORed with the
generated key sequence. The key stream is completely inde-
pendent of the plaintext used. It uses a variable length key
from 1 to 256 bit to initialize a 256-bit state table. The state ta-
ble is used for subsequent generation of pseudo-random bits
and then to generate a pseudo-random stream which is
XORed with the plaintext to give the cipher text [6].
RC4 Steps
The steps for RC4 encryption algorithm is as follows:
 Get the data to be encrypted and the selected key.
 Create two string arrays.
 Initiate one array with numbers from 0 to 255.
 Fill the other array with the selected key.
 Randomize the first array depending on the array of the
key.
 Randomize the first array within itself to generate the final
key stream.
 XOR the final key stream with the data to be encrypted to
give cipher text.
2.4 RSA Algorithms and its FeaturesCopyright Form
In RSA technique, two keys are required, first is e and N (n
bits) public and second is a number d that is kept secret. In
order for A to send a message to B, A looks up B's public val-
ues and, if the message is M (written as a number), then A
divides the message into pieces of size less than N and sends
————————————————
 AKINYELE Akinleye Okedola Obtained B.Sc. Electronics & Computer
Engineering from Lagos State University and M.Sc. in System Engineer-
ing from University of Lagos. He is currently with Lagos Polythechnic
 Yekini Nureni Asafe obtained his academic qualification as follows: M.Sc.
in Computer Science, University of Lagos Nigeria (UNILAG); B.Sc. in
Electronic and Computer Engineering, Lagos State University (LASU),
and NCE (National Certificate in Education) in Physics Lagos State Col-
lege of Education Ijanikin (LACOED). Hes is currently with Yaba college
of Technology.

ISSN 2229-5518
IJSER © 2015
C = Me mod n. Then B decodes by M = Cd mod N. The securi-
ty of the system lies in the choices of the public and private
keys. The original RSA cryptosystem was proposed in 1978 by
Rivest, Shamir and Adelman and consists of three parts [7][8],
these are:
1. RSA Key generation
The processes of RSA key generation are:
 Generate two different primes p and q of (n/2)-bit
each.
 Compute N = pq and O(N) = (p-1)(q-1).
 Choose a random integer 1 < e < O(N) such that
gcd(e,O(N)) = 1.
 Next, compute the uniquely defined integer 1 < d <
O(N) satisfying ed ≡ 1 (mod O (N)).The public key
is <N, e> and the private key <N, d>.
2. RSA Encryption
To encrypt a message X with the public key <N, e>, trans-
form the message X to an integer M in {0,…,N-1} and compute
the ciphertext C = Me mod N.
3. RSA Decryption
To decrypt the ciphertext C with the private key <N, d>,
compute M = Cd mod N and employ the reverse transfor-
mation to obtain the message X from M.
3 DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATIONSECTIONS
3.1 Description of the System
The system is designed using traditional mode of operation
techniques of RSA and RC4 algorithm earlier discussed in sec-
tion 2 of this paper. The program flowchart for the system is as
shown in the figure below:
Fig. 2 Cryptosystem Algorithm flow chart for RC4
Fig. 3 Encryption Algorithm flow chart for RSA
Fig. 4 Decryption Algorithm flow chart for RSA
3.2 CHOICE OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
The programming language chosen for implementation of the
flowchart for the RSA and RC4 algorithm is Visual Basic 6.0.
The programming language was chosen based on the follow-

ISSN 2229-5518
IJSER © 2015
ing considerations:
 Its portability, ease of understanding, English-like na-
ture, ease to code.
 It is an ideal programming language for developing
sophisticated professional applications for Microsoft
windows.
 It makes use of Graphical User Interface for creating
robust and powerful applications.
 It uses illustrations for text, which enable users to in-
teract with an application.
 It allows more freedom to the user and developer by
presenting greater number of options.
 It features easier comprehension, user-friendliness,
faster application development.
 It has powerful database access tools.
 Useful debugger and error-handling facilities
 Sequential and random access files support.
3.3 IMPLEMENTATION AND RESULTS ANALYSIS
The encryption operation was carried out for both RSA and
RC4 using five text files and five graphic files of different sizes
of 10, 50, 100, 150, and 200 kilobyte respectively. The major
factor considered for measuring the performance of the algo-
rithms (RSA and RC4) is the speed of execution using time of
execution (TE) as parameter for the evaluation. The RSATE
and RC4TE were measured for both text file, and the graphic
file. The result was tabulated as in table 1, and 2 below.
TABLE I
RSA and RC4 Result With Text Files
Text File No File
Size
(Kb)
RSATE
(Sec)
RCATE
(Sec)
File 1 10 1.0 0.5
File 2 50 4.92 2.35
File 3 100 9.24 3.52
File 4 150 13.52 4.58
File 5 200 19.21 6.75
TABLE II
RSA and RC4 Result with Image Files
Text File No File Size
(Kb)
RSATE
(Sec)
RCATE
(Sec)
File 1 10 0.50 0.35
File 2 50 1.82 0.55
File 3 100 2.21 0.68
File 4 150 2.62 0.75
File 5 200 2.64 0.90
The graphical illustration of the results in table I and
II is as shown in figure 5 and 6:
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
File1
File2
File3
File4
File5
ResultforRSAandRC4UsingTextFile
RC4TE(Secs) RSATE (Secs) FileSize(Kb)
Fig. 5 Performance Evaluation Result with Text Files
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Image1
Image2
Image3
Image4
Image5
ResultforRSAandRC4UsingImageFile
RC4TE(Secs) RSATE (Secs) FileSize(Kb)
Fig. 6 Performance Evaluation Result with Image Files
4 CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATION
4.1 Conclusions
From the evaluations of both RSA and RC4 algorithms and the
comparison presented, it was concluded that between RC4
and RSA, RSA is the most reliably secure algorithm. However,
the RC4 seems to be faster in encryption and decryption pro-
cess but rather less secure, as it can be broken using a relative-

ISSN 2229-5518
IJSER © 2015
ly inexpensive device in a short time when compare with RSA.
Although, RC4 is moderately secure. Its key scheduling algo-
rithm is somewhat weak, but this can be corrected. RC4 is
faster than RSA. In software, it is roughly one thousand times
faster than RSA. RSA is still sufficiently fast for most high-
speed applications. By contrast, the slowness of RSA due to
the high complexity of modular exponentiation is not usually
acceptable for encryption of large files. It is instead often used
for small data parcels, such as signatures and keys. All three
algorithms are theoretically free, as all the two are in the pub-
lic domain. There is absolutely no direct monetary cost to im-
plement and use either RSA or RC4. Finally, it was concluded
that RC4 is the simplest of the two algorithms to implement.
There are no computational optimizations required and the
steps are few. RC4 has many steps and operates at the bit lev-
el, but each of its operations is straightforward. Algorithm
optimization is likely not necessary. RSA has a simple algo-
rithm, but requires substantial optimization, particularly in
the exponentiation steps, in order to be practical.
4.2 Recommendations
Based on the analysis and conclusions presented in this re-
port, it is recommended that the RC4 algorithm be used to
encrypt real-time wireless and TCP/IP transmissions. Such
transmissions require speed, and RC4 is the fastest encryption
algorithm considered in this report. As a stream cipher, it is
well suited to the near-continuous flow of wireless and
TCP/IP transmissions. Also, the algorithm does not have any
serious security shortcomings, provided that the protocol and
key-scheduling algorithm are adapted to follow the recom-
mendations of the Shamir paper. RC4 is also highly recom-
mended for personal files that are stored locally. The algo-
rithm’s simplicity makes it ideal for individuals implementing
it on their own. RC4’s high speed is also ideal for private indi-
viduals, who generally expect quick results. Memory and time
requirements of the algorithm are extremely low.
The RSA algorithm is recommended for highly confidential
governmental or corporate communications. The security of
RSA – due to the difficulty of factorizing large numbers – is
very suitable for these sensitive applications. Also, attempts to
break the cipher mathematically can typically only be carried
out with extensive collaboration, dedicated computers, algo-
rithmic optimizations, and time. The length of the RSA modu-
lus may be chosen to suit security requirements: more sensi-
tive data or data that must remain confidential for a longer
time can be encrypted using longer RSA module. The main
weakness of RSA is its very low speed. This must be suffered,
however, for highly confidential information. Also, RSA re-
quires more human resources than the other algorithms, since
without substantial software development to optimize it, the
algorithm is too slow to be practical. In addition, RSA is rec-
ommended for securing signatures and keys, as the speed of
the algorithm is not a significant factor when dealing with
small data parcels.
5 FURTHER RESEARCH
This completed works serves as a great improvement to the
previous ones. The improvement is actually required in the
area of making further evaluation on another set of encryption
and decryption algorithms. The research work covered evalu-
ation on the popular RSA and RC4 algorithms. Moreover, no
system is perfect in real life situation, therefore, in the future
research, it is suggested that whosoever is willing to further
research on this topic should work to extend the scope of this
project beyond the present scope of study covered. With the
improvement of internet services all over the globe, It is there-
fore, recommended that further research on evaluation of al-
gorithms should please, evaluate algorithm performance that
can improve and better present algorithm that can be benefi-
cial for the use of internet to further enhance the security loop
holes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank our wives and children for their
endurance during processes of this research, as the tedious
work involves does not gives us opportunity to be with thee
expecially during the design and implementation that ran for
almost three weeks.
REFERENCES
[1] Yekini N. Asafe, Aigbokhan E. Edwin, and Okikiola F. Mercy: Cryptography
System for Online Communication Using Polyalphabetic Substitution Meth-
od. Int. J. Advanced Networking and Applications Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Pages:
2151-2157 (2014) ISSN:0975-0290
[2] Abdel-Karim Al Tamimi, Performance Analysis of Data Encryption Algo-
rithmswustl
[3] Divya Sukhija, Performance Evaluation of Cryptographic Algorithms: AES
and DES International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing,
Vol.3 Issue.9, September- 2014, pg. 582-585: IJCSMC, Vol. 3, Issue. 9, Septem-
ber2014,pg.582 –585
[4] Earle2005 "Wireless Security Handbook,".AuerbachPublications 2005
[5] Nadeem 2005 Aamer Nadeem et al, "A Performance Comparison of Data
EncryptionAlgorithms",IEEE2005
[6] Tsuyoshi Takagi, ―Efficiency Comparison of Several RSA Variants‖,
Fachbereich Informatikder TUDarmstadt, March2003
[7] R. Rivest, A. Shamir, and L. Adleman, ―A Method for Ob taining Digital
Signatures and Public Key Cryptosystems‖, Communications of the ACM
Vol.21, No.2,pp.120 - 126,1978.
[8] Allam Mousa and Ahmad Hamad (2006); Evaluation of the RC4 Algorithm
for Data Encryption: International Journal of Computer Science and Applica-
tions.Vol 3,No2,

ISSN 2229-5518
IJSER © 2015
AKINYELE Akinleye Okedola
Obtained B.Sc. Electronics &
Computer Engineering from
Lagos State University and M.Sc.
in System Engineering from
University of Lagos. He is a Cer-
tified Wireless Network Adminis-
trator (CWNA), I.T Consultant,
Engineer and a Professional
Teacher. He was a head of De-
partment of Computer Engineer-
ing, Lagos State Polytechnic, and
presently the Head, Record and
Statistics in the Academic Plan-
ning Unit of Lagos State Poly-
technic.
Engr. Yekini Nureni Asafe obtained his
academic qualification as follows:
M.Sc. in Computer Science, University
of Lagos Nigeria (UNILAG); B.Sc. in
Electronic and Computer Engineering,
Lagos State University (LASU), and
NCE (National Certificate in Educa-
tion) in Physics Lagos State College of
Education Ijanikin (LACOED). He is a
Member Nigeria Computer Society
(NCS), International Association of
Engineers (IAENG), International
Association of Computer Science and
Information Technology (IACSIT), and
Member Institute of Electrical Electron-
ic (MIEEE). He has co-author, and
singular author of several academ-
ic/research publications that has fea-
tures in some revered international
journals and conference proceedings
both in Nigeria and in abroad. He has
written about seventeen textbooks in
computer science and engineering

RSA and RC4 Cryptosystem Performance Evaluation Using Image and Text

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Similar to RSA and RC4 Cryptosystem Performance Evaluation Using Image and Text (20)

More from Yekini Nureni (9)

Recently uploaded (20)

RSA and RC4 Cryptosystem Performance Evaluation Using Image and Text