Analysis of RC4 and Proposal of Additional Layers for Better Security Margin

In this paper, the RC4 Key Scheduling Algorithm (KSA) is theoretically studied to reveal non-uniformity in the expected number of times each value of the permutation is touched by the indices i , j . Based on our analysis and the results available in the literature regarding the existing weaknesses of RC4, few additional layers over the RC4 KSA and RC4 Pseudo-Random Generation Algorithm (PRGA) are proposed. Analysis of the modified cipher (we call it RC4 + ) shows that this new strategy avoids existing weaknesses of RC4.

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