Building upon the foundation of cryptography research and previous academic research work by Vipin Menon and Manuel Rivero in 2013, my senior project involves the creation of a mobile application with a set of cryptographic tools from substitution to block ciphers. While there are plenty of computer solutions for cryptographic needs, this project explores solutions available in a mobile environment. First, the user will be able to encrypt plain text and decrypt cipher text using a randomly generated substitution key or a key chosen by the user. Originally, the next plan was to provide the user with cryptanalysis tools such as frequency analysis of letters and n-grams to allow user-assisted cracking of substitution cipher text without a key. After working with Dr. Emre Yilmaz, he encouraged me to take it a step further. Rather than user-assisted cracking, the mobile application will automatically decipher imported cipher text. In an examination of the dangers of improper block cipher implementations, the app will allow a user to select a bitmap image, encrypt the image using AES in both Electronic Code Book and Cipher Block Chaining modes, and then display the original image and both encrypted images side-by-side for comparison. Next, the application will allow a user to encrypt files using AES in Cipher Block Chaining mode and email those files along with a unique Initial Vector nonce. Plus, the application will allow a user to decrypt these files received through email. Lastly, the application will encrypt an input file chosen by the user using AES and DES, displaying the duration each took to complete in milliseconds. References from Academic Research:
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