EVALUATION OF THE RC4 ALGORITHM AS A SOLUTION FOR CONVERGED NETWORKS

Alaa M. Riad - Alaa R. Shehata - Elminir K. Hamdy - Mohammed H. Abou-Alsouad - Taha R. Ibrahim

   Converging of all traffic types into a single multi-service network is a hot topic in the networking industry. Network designers have selected IP as the common infrastructure for this new converged network for its popularity and scalability. But due to the increased number of protocols and applications running on converged networks, new vulnerabilities are emerging and therefore new opportunities to break into the network are added, and so many security mechanisms are needed. Encryption solution based on RC4 algorithm will fit all types of application running over converged network, specially the real time applications and cause an acceptable delay. We will apply the NIST suite of statistical tests to RC4 output to test its randomness and security. The testing results illustrates that RC4 is secure and random enough to be used within the converged network.

Keywords: converged networks, VOIP security, RC4, stream ciphers, RNG, PRNG

[full-paper]