Enhanced Parallelized DNA-Coded Stream Cipher Based on Multiplayer Prisoners’ Dilemma

Abstract

Data encryption is essential in securing exchanged data between connected parties. Encryption is the process of transforming readable text into scrambled, unreadable text using secure keys. Stream ciphers are one type of an encryption algorithm that relies on only one key for decryption and as well as encryption. Many existing encryption algorithms are developed based on either a mathematical foundation or on other biological, social or physical behaviours. One technique is to utilise the behavioural aspects of game theory in a stream cipher. In this paper, we introduce an enhanced Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-coded stream cipher based on an iterated <i>n</i>-player prisoner’s dilemma paradigm. Our main goal is to contribute to adding more layers of randomness to the behaviour of the keystream generation process; these layers are inspired by the behaviour of multiple players playing a prisoner’s dilemma game. We implement parallelism to compensate for the additional processing time that may result from adding these extra layers of randomness. The results show that our enhanced design passes the statistical tests and achieves an encryption throughput of about 1,877 Mbit/s, which makes it a feasible secure stream cipher.