Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) scientist Palash Sarkar, an internationally acknowledged expert in cryptology, has obtained the internationally best known method for one of the major steps in securing communication over the Internet.
The research has been published in the August 2010 issue of the world?s leading journal in the mathematics of communication-the IEEE Transaction on Information Theory.
Technically the step is called a mode of operation of a block cipher for achieving Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data (AEAD).
This has been informed by the ISI in a press release in Kolkata.
The ISI is an internationally recognized center for research in cryptology. Professor Bimal K. Roy has led a group of scientists over the last ten years for research on this subject. This research is a fall out of that vibrant intellectual environment.
Ad-hoc methods for AEAD were being used for quite a long time. Efficient methods have been proposed by different groups of researchers from leading US research labs and universities.
All efficient methods prior to Professor Sarkar?s work are covered by intellectual property claims. This has led the US National Institute of Standards and Technology to declare as US standard, a relatively inefficient method developed by Cisco.
Sarkar has developed a new theory to tackle the problem from a more practical point of view. The work provides speed improvements over past methods.
More importantly, it provides a customizable feature using which any potential user can uniquely reconfigure the algorithm without losing on the benefits of achieving the best possible speed and the assurance of provable security.
This will immensely benefit the defence establishments who do not use publicly known cryptographic algorithms for their use.
On the other hand, since the algorithm is free from patent claims, it can be adapted for use as international standards.