Hill-ADN Cryptography: A Fusion of Classical Ciphers and DNA Encryption

Introduction

Welcome to the Hill-ADN Cryptography repository! This innovative project amalgamates traditional Hill cipher methodologies with DNA encryption techniques, aiming to revolutionize data security. By harnessing the intricate properties of DNA sequences, this approach offers a robust and advanced encryption mechanism. For a deeper dive into the technical details and insights behind this groundbreaking fusion of classical cryptography with DNA-based techniques, read more about it in my Medium article.

Encryption Overview

1. Binary and DNA Transformation

• Binary Conversion: The plaintext is initially converted into an 8-bit binary representation.

• DNA Encoding: Subsequently, the binary data is mapped to DNA sequences using the rule: A(00), C(01), G(10), T(11).

  Example: 'foo' in binary becomes 01100110 01101111 01101111, and this is further encoded as the DNA sequence CGCGCGTTCGTT.

2. Amino Acid Translation

• Mapping to Amino Acids: The DNA sequences, composed of triplets (e.g., CGT), are translated into amino acids based on the genetic codon table. For instance, CGT corresponds to the amino acid Arginine (R).

Hill Cipher Encryption with Amino Acid Sequence

• Input: The amino acid sequence, derived from the previous step, serves as the input plaintext for the Hill cipher encryption.
• Key Setup: A key matrix is established based on the provided encryption key, tailored to the encryption algorithm's specific parameters.
• Encryption Process:
  • Divide the amino acid sequence into blocks, each aligned with the key matrix's dimensions.
  • Convert each block into a numerical matrix using the amino acid-to-numeric mapping.
  • Perform matrix multiplication between the key matrix and the blocks, followed by modulo operations to fit within the desired alphabet size (e.g., 26 for English alphabets).
  • The resulting matrices form the ciphertext, which is then translated back into an amino acid sequence.

Decryption Overview

Hill-ADN Decryption

• Input: The encrypted amino acid sequence undergoes decryption using the Hill cipher.
• Decryption Steps:

  • Utilize the Hill cipher decryption technique to decrypt the encrypted amino acid sequence.

  • The decrypted result yields the original amino acid sequence as the output.

    The terminal image shows the final output of the code:

Ambiguity in DNA Sequence Representation

One of the intriguing challenges in converting amino acid sequences to DNA sequences lies in the inherent ambiguity of the genetic code. The genetic code, responsible for translating RNA sequences into amino acids, often exhibits redundancy. For instance, multiple DNA codons can encode the same amino acid. This redundancy means that a specific amino acid, when converted back to DNA, can yield multiple potential DNA sequences.

For example, the amino acid Arginine (R) has six different codons in DNA:

• CGA, CGC, CGG, CGT, AGA, AGG

Such ambiguity poses a significant challenge from a decryption standpoint. If one were to intercept an encrypted DNA sequence without prior knowledge of the key or the original plaintext amino acid sequence, deciphering it back to the correct amino acid sequence could be a daunting task due to the multitude of potential DNA sequences that could represent a single amino acid.

This ambiguity not only adds an extra layer of complexity to the encryption process but also underscores the intricate and multifaceted nature of DNA-based encryption techniques.

Conclusion

The Hill-ADN Cryptography repository presents a novel encryption paradigm by integrating classical Hill cipher techniques with DNA-based encoding. By leveraging the intricacies of biological structures, this innovative approach aspires to advance data security and encryption methodologies.