PUBLIC KEY ENCRYPTION AND DATA

SAFETY IN THE INFORMATION AGE

By Nancy Larson and Your NameMs.
Trainer

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Table of Contents

Table of Figures............................................................................ 3
The Information Age.....................................................................4
The History of the Internet............................................................4
9 Protecting Data........................................................................5
Founders of Public Key Encryption.................................................5
Data Safety.................................................................................. 6
Locating the Public Key.................................................................7
Usernames and Passwords............................................................7
The Future of Security..................................................................8
Appendix A..................................................................................9
Bibliography............................................................................... 12
Index......................................................................................... 13

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Table of Figures
Table 1: ASCII Codes................................................................................................... 9
Table 2 One Hundred Prime Numbers.......................................................................10
Table 3 The Seive Of Eartosthenes...........................................................................10

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The Information Age

The current era in history has been dubbed The Information Age. Sharing
information quickly and electronically is the starting point of this moniker. An ever
increasing amount of information is available wirelessly through computer systems.
Books are stored on Googles servers. Wikipedia allows everyone who registers to
update the information. Educational institutions post research and grades online.
Corporations and organizations advertise on websites to advertise and inform.
Medical groups maintain records electronically. Access to information is critical for
our progress. Restricting access on a need to know basis is vitalalso critical.

The History of the Internet

What is now referred to as the Internet began as a defense department project to
ensure continuous communication for the military in the event of a nuclear war. The
contract to construct the network was awarded in 1968 and the network was
physically constructed in 1969 with only four hosts. 1 This network could not yet be
called a public source.
Throughout the next twenty years the network grew in range and was increased in
speed. In 1981 the National Science Foundation developed CSNET to allow research
institutions to communicate through 50 Kbps lines. The system of naming domains
was established by the University of Wisconsin and the TCP/IP protocols were put in
place in 1983. By the mid-80s, the demand for service on the network increased
and T-1 lines were implemented. Demand continued to increase and the
development of the next generation of lines (to be called T-3 lines) began
immediately. These lines (at 45 Mbps) were available by 1990. Through the 1980s
1 History of the Internet2010. 27 March 2010.
<http://www.davesite.com/webstation/net-history.shtml>

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and 90s, the internet transitioned from a military and research communication tool
to a public communication tool.2
By the mid-1990s, companies were finding ways to market through the internet.
Microsofts Windows 98 provided a source of standardized internet access to a large
number of consumers, both business and individuals. Other software companies
followed suit. E-commerce was going strong, led by companies such as Amazon.
The former military network was now used by a majority of the public in the United
States.3 E-commerce brought the need for sharing private information securely from
a public site. Payment was usually made by credit card, so the number must be
sent through the internet. The use of electronic records, accessible from multiple
locations, has required a secure system which can transfer larger packets of
information securely. These records are used in many fields, including education,
banking and medicine. How are these records protected?

10 Protecting Data
Transferring data is possible because computers handle all information numerically.
The letters of the alphabet are matched to numbers in a code referred to as ASCII.
(See the table in Appendix A.) Each letter and number symbol is represented by a
number. The computer does not use E. It uses 069. For e the computer uses
101. The complete table is in the appendix. Since all data is represented by
numbers, performing calculations on the numbers hides the data. The technique
that is most commonly used for this is called public key encryption.

2 Zakon, Robert. Hobbes' Internet Timeline. 1 January 2010. 25 March 2011

<http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/
3 Howe, Walt. A Brief History of the Internet. March 24, 2010. Retrieved April 2,
2010.<http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html>.

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Founders of Public Key Encryption

A trio of mathematical researchers proposed an asymmetric cypher in mathematical
literature in 1976.4 These researchers were Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman, and
Ralph Merkle and the asymmetrical cypher became known as public key encryption.
The paper published at that time provided a means of encryption, but the cypher to
the encryption (the means to return the coded data to the original) would have to
be transferred to the recipient of the communication. The transfer of the
information that would break a code was a weak point in the encryption technique.
Intercepting the cypher would allow the breaking of the code. But the paper
published by Diffie, Hellman and Merkle proposed that an asymmetric function
would solve this problem. There was only one drawback; no one knew of an
asymmetrical function.
A group of researchers for MIT, that were located in East Africa, were determined to
make the asymmetric function a reality. Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard
Adleman tried ideas and discarded them for over a year. Leonard Adleman was the
mathematician of the group. Rivest and Shamir were creative thinkers. They made a
good team. Rivest and Shamir proposed ideas. Adleman found the fallacy in their
proposals. Little time was wasted on ideas that would not work. In April 1977 Rivest
proposed a solution that Adleman could not refute.

In August, 1977, Martin Gardner announced RSA public key encryption in the
Games column of Scientific American. (Gardner) The underlying premise of public
key encryption is that the person receiving the information will choose two large
prime numbers. (Prime numbers are those that can be evenly divided only be itself

4 Singh, Simon. The Code Book. New York: Random House, 1999.
5 Singh, Simon. The Code Book. New York: Random House, 1999.

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and one.) These two prime numbers are the private key. The product of these two
primes, resulting from multiplication of the two prime numbers, is the public key.

Data Safety
Are credit card numbers safe with a basic set of calculations like this? Are medical
records secure? All the hacker would have to do is find one prime number that is a
factor of the public key, and the second number will reveal itself, too. Luckily, it isnt
as easy as that. Martin Gardner, in the article that first announced public key
encryption, challenged his readers to decode a cypher text using a public key of 129
digits that he printed in the article.7 Eighteen years later a group of 600 volunteers
was able to break the encryption by factoring the public key. The group split the job
into parts and used the computers and supercomputers in a parallel effort to
succeed. One other point must be considered. The public key in this example was
129 digits. Many are 300 digits in length, vastly complicating the factoring. (Singh)
Public key encryption makes other forms of hacking more appealing than breaking
the key for encryption.

Locating the Public Key

Everyone who has purchased products online has used public key encryption. The
computer user doesnt need to enter the number. The public key is sent to the
computer sending information by the computer that will receive the information. For
the user it is invisible. The visible signals that encryption is in place are a padlock at
the bottom left of the browser window and/or a web address that starts https://
indicating a secure site.
6 Singh.
7 Gardner, Martin. "A new kind of cypher that would take millions of years to break."
Scientific America August 1977: 120-124.

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The public key can be regenerated as often as it is needed. How often that occurs is
determined by a companys security protocols. Based on prime numbers, the
encryption has a large number of possibilities. The number of prime numbers is at
this time limited, but the total number of prime numbers has been proven to be
infinite. If, or when, a better method of finding prime numbers is developed, the
flexibility of public key encryption will increase. 8

Usernames and Passwords

Internal company websites, intranets, and emails often require a specific login,
usually requiring a unique username and password for each individual. These
websites will also use public key encryption when these passwords are transmitted.
The double layer of encryption provides more security for the protection of
proprietary information, personnel information and other information that the
corporation wishes to protect. These types of security measures are also used for
controlling access to medical and school records.
The choice of password also influences the level of security. Some corporations are
now requiring sixteen characters in the passwords with upper and lower case letters
and numbers included in every password. Some security software will check the
password for recognizable words, names and phrases. These weaken the password
and are rejected by the security software. Randomly generated passwords are
harder to break. However, passwords that are randomly generated are usually more
difficult to remember. When the password is hard to remember, people are inclined
to write it down, or save it on their computer. This reduces security. Choosing the
length and security of passwords is a balancing act.

8 Garrett, Paul. Making, Breaking Codes. Upper Saddle, N J: Prentice Hall, 2001.

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The Future of Security

The security issue will need to be constantly updated as the criminals become more
adept at decoding or stealing the information to break current security measures.
Public key encryption will be a strong part of network security for a long time in the
future. The ability to access data from multiple locations provides more accurate
medical records for the benefit of both doctors and patients, provides parents and
students the opportunity to monitor grades throughout the school year and provides
online banking and financial services at any hour of the day. This is the expected
standard in the twenty-first century.

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Appendix A
Table 1: ASCII Codes

Sample ASCII codes

ASCII
value
048
049
050
051
052
053
054
055
056
057
058
059
060
061
062
063
064
065
066
067
068
069
070
071
072
073
074

Charact
er
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
:
;
<
=
>
?
@
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J

ASCII
value
075
076
077
078
079
080
081
082
083
084
085
086
087
088
089
090
091
092
093
094
095
096
097
098
099
100
101

Charact
er
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
[
\
]
^
_

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a
b
c
d
e

ASCII
value
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122

Charact
er
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z

Table 2 One Hundred Prime Numbers

Prime Numbers
2
13
31
53
73
101
127
151
179
199
233
263
283
317
353
383
419
443
467
503

3
17
37
59
79
103
131
157
181
211
239
269
293
331
359
389
421
449
479
509

5
19
41
61
83
107
137
163
191
223
241
271
307
337
367
397
431
457
487
521

Table 3 The Seive Of Eartosthenes

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7
23
43
67
89
109
139
167
193
227
251
277
311
347
373
401
433
461
491
523

11
29
47
71
97
113
149
173
197
229
257
281
313
349
379
409
439
463
499
541

Bibliography
Garret, P. (2001). Making,Breaking Codes. Upper Saddle River,NJ: Prentice Hall.
Pickover, C. (2009). The Math Book. London: Sterling.

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Index
E
Encryption 4, 5, 6, 7

I
internet 3, 4
Internet 3

M
Medical records 5, 7

P
Passwords 7
Prime numbers 5, 6
Private key 5
Public key 4, 5, 6, 7

S
Security 6, 7

U
Username 7

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