The Hindu Business Line : New data encryption technique

Data security
This can be as simple as sending the word "lived" with its alphabets reversed as "devil". Except for the sender and the receiver no one else can read the original message.

Chennai , Oct. 29

Over $50 billion a year is lost by businesses in the US due to data breach and identity theft, says an FBI report. Mr Cheman Shaik's invention, patented by the United States Patent & Trademark Organisation, may result in greater security of data transmitted or stored electronically.

Mr Shaik, a non-resident Indian who is working as an IT consultant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, says he has developed an encryption technique that will prevent theft - irrespective of whether data travels across networks or remains in a database. His invention is a process called "Blind Encryption" where data is encrypted twice.

Encryption refers to coding data before transmitting it and decoding it before receiving it.

This can be as simple as sending the word "lived" with its alphabets reversed as "devil". Except for the sender and the receiver no one else can read the original message. Blind Encryption encrypts data twice ensuring that it cannot be identified or traced, says Mr Shaik. In all encryption systems, it is mandatory to leave a trace of either the coding or decoding procedure.

"Blind Encryption complies with that by making available only a part of the code used for encrypting data. This way the entire code cannot be traced back for hackers to break encryption," he says.

Computer networks today run on well-established encryption systems. Will it be possible to implement Blind Encryption on them? "Yes. Blind Encryption can co-exist with other encryption techniques. It does not affect the performance or speed of the network and there is no data loss due to the encryption," says Mr Shaik.

According to Mr Shaik, some specific uses for his encryption technique are online buyers' credit card encryption for e-commerce Web sites, password encryption for e-banking customers, domain login of Web site owners for site development and maintenance, public key certifying services and payment gateways.

"Corporate and Government databases containing business secrets, intelligence, defence and military information can also be encrypted using this technique," he says.

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