Assignment Instructions/ Description
Provide (2) 150 words substantive response with a minimum of 1 APA references for RESPONSES 1 AND 2 below. Response provided should further discuss the subject or provide more insight. To further understand the response, below is the discussion post that's discusses the responses. 100% original work and not plagiarized. Must meet deadline.
RESPONSE 1:
Briefly summarize the history of RC4 and what it tells us about the development of secure encryption algorithms.
Chapter 9 Section 2.2 The RC4 Story
A man named Ron Rivest developed the stream cipher RC4 (otherwise known as Rivest Cipher 4 or Ron’s Code 4) algorithm in 1987. Even in 2021, older servers and wireless networks are still using RC4. RC4 was offered as a trade secret when introduced by Rivest, who at the time was the cofounder of the company RSA Data Security. This company was responsible to backing and marketing the algorithm. The RC4 was offered exclusively to venders who could pay a fee for the product but where restricted from extending this exclusivity to non-paying members. In being a “trade secret”, RC4 was never protected from patent protection rights. Meaning if someone outside of a lender paying a fee to use the algorithm were to get ahold of it independently, then Rivest is unprotected.
During those years, the United States International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) considered encryptions as a threat to national security. Do not be alarmed however, because just a few years later not only did the National Security Agency allow the use of RC4, they also adopted Ron Rivest’s second block cipher creation known as RC2 on two conditions. Condition number one stated that secret contents of the secret key could not exceed 40 bits. Condition two stated that a trade secret algorithm had to remain if not a secret, then at least unpublished (Chap. 9 Sect. 2.2).
In 1994, his algorithm was leaked anonymously to the “Cypherpunks” internet mailing list and from there it was history. Over the years, people are still in awe at its speed and simplicity. It tells us that both software and hardware are going to continue to develop more complicated and crack proof encryptions but maybe by the team we actually here about it, it would have been around and utilized by titan mogul companies for years.
Anthony
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