Implementing Symmetric Cryptography Using Chaos Functions

Chaos functions have mainly used to develop mathematical models of non linear systems. They have attracted the attention of many mathematicians owing to their extremely sensitive nature to initial conditions and their immense applicability to problems of daily life. In this paper we investigate the utility of such functions in symmetric key cryptography for secure communications. An algorithm using one of the simplest chaotic functions f(x)=4*x*(1-x) is proposed. The algorithm is compared with the DES algorithm which has by far been the most widely used standard for symmetric key cryptography. The algorithm is proved to be much more secure than the DES algorithm. However it has a higher computation cost. Practical applications of the algorithm are also suggested.