International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169

Volume: 4 Issue: 12 126 131

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
An Enhanced Approach of Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem based Unicode
Representation

Fatima Amounas Lahcen El Bermi

ROI Group, Computer Science Department, ROI Group, Computer Science Department,
Moulay Ismal University, Faculty of Sciences and Moulay Ismal University, Faculty of Sciences and
Technics, Errachidia, Morocco. Technics, Errachidia, Morocco.
[email protected] [email protected]

AbstractData encryption is an important issue and widely used in recent times to ensure security. Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) is one of
the most efficient techniques that are used in public key cryptography, because it is difficult for the adversary to solve the elliptic curve discrete
logarithm problem to know the secret key that is used in encryption and decryption processes. ECC is more complex and thus it provides
greater security and more efficient performance. This paper aims to propose an enhanced approach of elliptic curve cryptosystem based Unicode
representation. The proposed technique transforms the text message into an affine point called Pm on the elliptic curve, over the finite field
GF(p). Each character in the text message is represented by its Unicode value denoted by two digits and separated into two values. Then, the
addition and doubling operations are performed on each value to obtain an affine point on elliptic curve. This transformation makes
cryptosystem more secure and complicated to resist the adversaries. Further, the use of Unicode representation will provide better performance
in this regard.

Keywords- Elliptic Curve Cryptography, Unicode Encoding, Encryption, Decryption, Amazigh character.
__________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION Each character in the message is represented by its ASCII

Cryptography is one of the mathematical techniques that value. Each of these ASCII value is transformed into an affine
ensure secure communications within a non-secure point on the EC. This transformed character of the message is
channel. Cryptography is divided into two types, encrypted by the ECC technique. Meltem Kurt and al. [5]
Symmetric key and Asymmetric key cryptography. In presented a modified cryptosystem using hexadecimal to
Symmetric key cryptography a single key is shared encrypt data. Their study depended on Menezes Vanstone
between sender and receiver. The sender uses the shared ECC algorithm by adding additional features. They made the
key and encryption algorithm to encrypt the message. The system more security and more confusion than the original
receiver uses the shared key and decryption algorithm to algorithm. An implementation of ElGamal ECC for encryption
decrypt the message. In Asymmetric key cryptography each and decryption a message is also proposed by Debabrat
user is assigned a pair of keys, a public key and a private Boruah in [6].
key. The public key is announced to all members while the A number of research papers have been published showing
private key is kept secret by the user. The sender uses the the utilization of ECC for enhancing the security of
public key which was announced by the receiver to applications [7, 8]. In this context, this research work aims to
encrypt the message. The receiver uses his own private key develop a secure encoding method which can enhance the
to decrypt the message. security of elliptic curve cryptosystem by using Unicode
Elliptic curve cryptography is one of the famous techniques representation. This paper is organized as follows. Section 2
used recently in public key cryptography. ECC is a better presents a mathematical introduction to elliptic curve function
alternative for public key encryption. It depends on the over prime field and the Unicode representation. Section 3
hardness of the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem explains the proposed approach. Section 4 gives a brief
(ECDLP), which cannot be solved by the adversary. illustration with an example. The implementation result is
presented in section 5. Finally, Section 6 presents the
The level of difficulty in solving the DLP can be discussion and conclusion of the proposed method.
increased by selecting a base point G whose order is very
large [1, 2, 3]. Several studies have been presented by many
researchers. Maria Celestin Vigila S. and al [4] discusses the
implementation of text based Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem.

126
IJRITCC | December 2016, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________________
International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 4 Issue: 12 126 131
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
II. BACKGROUND DETAIL - Scalar Multiplication
Suppose is an integer and P( x M , y M ) is a point lies
A. Mathematical Basics of elliptic curve
on E. The scalar multiplication can be defined by:
In elliptic curve cryptography, a restricted form of elliptic
P= P+ P+ + P ( times).
curve defined over a finite field Fp is considered. One
A scalar multiplication P can be computed by a combination
particular interest for cryptography is referred to elliptic group
of the point addition and point doubling operations on elliptic
mod p, where p is prime number [9]. Eq.1 refers to the general
curve [10].
form of elliptic curve:
The security of ECC rests on the hardness of discrete
y2=x3+ax+b mod p (1)
logarithm problem over the points on the elliptic curve.
Where a and b are two nonnegative integers less than p,
Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem (ECDLP) states
satisfying the following condition:
4a3+27b2 (mod p) 0. that given a base point P and a point Q=P lying on the
curve, it is hard to determine .

The set of all elliptic curve points is denoted by E p(a, b) and B. Unicode Representation
defined as The characters of any language are encoded using
UNICODE representation. The objective of UNICODE is
Ep(a, b)={(x,y): y2=x3+ax+b mod p }
to unify all the different encoding schemes so that
together with the point at infinity. The point at infinity confusion between computers can be limited as much as
denoted by '' is the additive identity for the abelian possible. UNICODE standard defines values for different
group. characters and can be seen at the UNICODE Consortium [11].
It has several character encoding forms, UTF standing for
ECC Point Operations UNICODE Transformation Unit. UTF-8 only uses one byte to
- Point Addition encode the characters. UTF-16 uses two bytes (16 bits) to
encode the most commonly used characters. UTF-32 uses four
Suppose M( x M , y M ) and N( x M , y M ) are two points
bytes (32 bits) to encode the characters.
lie on an elliptic curve E defined in Equation (1). The
The Amazigh alphabet which is called Tifinagh-IRCAM,
sum M+N results a third point R ( x R , y R ) which is also lies adopted by the Royal Institute of the Amazigh Culture
on E. The coordinates of the result point is given as follows: (IRCAM), was officially recognized by the International
- If MN ( x M x N ), then the sum is defined by Organization of Standardization (ISO) as the basic
multilingual plan [12]. Each Amazigh character has a code
R( x R , y R ) =M+N such that: point. It is the value that a character is given in the UNICODE
x R (s 2 xM x N ) mod p standard. The values according to UNICODE are written as
hexadecimal numbers and have a prefix of "U+". The set of
y R s( xM x R ) y M mod p Amazigh characters and their corresponding Unicode assigned
Where by ISO is illustrated in [13].
y N yM
s III. PROPOSED APPROACH
x N xM
Different methods are suggested in the literature for
encoding message to an elliptic curve [14, 15]. The simplest
- If ( x M = x N ) but y M y N then M+N=. method is to use the ASCII value of characters in the message
- Point Doubling to find the points on the curve. Each point can be directly
mapped to the ASCII value of character. This method is
Let M( x M , y M ) be a point lies on E. Adding he point M
suitable for encrypting short messages. But this method is
to itself is called doubling point on elliptic curve. The inefficient in terms of security. In this paper, we suggest a
coordinates of the result point is given as follows: novel method based ECC using Unicode representation which
R( x R , y R ) = 2M such that: is structurally and functionally divided into two basic parts.
The first part of the algorithm is based on elliptic curve based
x R (s 2 2 xM ) mod p
matrix approach [16, 17]. The second part deals with the
y R s( xM x R ) y M mod p traversing process (Figure 1). The main idea of our
Where contribution depends on using the Unicode value to enhance
3x M2 a the security of ECC technique. Now, we discuss the
s algorithms in greater details to explain its working and
2 yM features.
127
IJRITCC | December 2016, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________________
International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 4 Issue: 12 126 131
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Q11 Q12
PM= Q21 Q22

Qr 1 Qr 2

Step 9. Choose a non-singular matrix A of 22 and compute

the product PM*A. The result matrix is denoted B.
Step 10. Create a Square matrix of order mm with entries as
the encrypted points. Then, Apply traversing process to get
data matrix C. Let b= ( bi b j ), where j is bit position
(LSBMSB), which decides which transformation has to be
performed.
If bi b j =00 Spiral Traversal.
If bi b j =01 Helical Traversal.
Figure 1. The traversing process.
If bi b j =10 Reversed Spiral Traversal.
A. Encryption/ Decryption Algorithms If bi b j =11 Reversed Sine waveform Traversal.
Suppose that A and B are two users wishing to communicate
over insecure channel. Let us choose the user A as the sender
Step 11. The set of points ( kP , C i ) is sent to the user B.
who wants to encrypt and send a message to the user B (the
receiver). Every entity needs to choose a private key. The
2) Decryption process
private keys, n A and n B are positive integers chosen
Upon receiving the cipher text ( kP , C i ) by user B, the
randomly from the interval [1, p-1]. Te public keys for the
users A and B can be generated respectively as follows: decryption process will be started. The steps in decryption
algorithm are as follows:
PA n A P
Step 1. Input the encrypted Text.
PB nB P
1) Encryption process Step 2. Extract the first block and multiply his private key
Step 1. Choose an elliptic curve Ep (a,b) with a base point P. n B by kP to get the secret key K (k1 , k 2 ) .
Step 3. Arrange the remaining points into data matrix of
Step 2. Choose a random number k and compute a secure
mm. Then, Reverse the operations done in the traversing
key K kPB (k1 , k 2 ) . process to get back data matrix C.
Step 3. Input any sentence Amazigh as plain text message. Step 4. Create a data matrix B of r2 with entries as
Step 4. Imbed the character into code point using Unicode encrypted points. Then, perform ECC operations to
form. Then, Substitute it with the corresponding value of compute the product B*A 1 =PM.
two digits ( h1 h2 )16. Step 5. Apply subtraction operation for each row of data
matrix to get the mapping points:
Step 5. Convert each value of h1 and h2 to decimal values
Pi1 Qi1 k1 P and Pi 2 Qi 2 k 2 P .
d 1 and d 2 respectively. Then, compute P1 d1 P and
P2 d 2 P where P1 and P2 are two points lie on E. two Step 6. Extract d 1 and d 2 from Pi1 and Pi 2 respectively
parameters: by solving the discrete logarithm problem.

Step 6. Perform ECC operations to compute the mapping Step 7. Convert each value into equivalent hexadecimal
value. Then, transform the result values into code point.
points Q1 P1 k1 P and Q2 P2 k 2 P .
Step 8. Find the equivalent Unicode value from the code
Step 7. Repeat the step 4 to 6 for the remaining characers. point. Then, accumulate characters to form the plaintext
Step 8. Arrange the mapping points into data matrix of r2 message.
with entries as points on EC.

128
IJRITCC | December 2016, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________________
International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 4 Issue: 12 126 131
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
IV. ILLUSTRATION WITH AN EXAMPLE (179,111) (26,164) (146,77) (182,220)
Assume that Alice and Bob are agreed to use the elliptic curve: (97, 45) (239,69) (74,159) (30, 86)
y2=x3 x + 188 mod 241. (231,43) (189,193) (30,155) (65,197)
(152,165) (12,159) (21,149) (156,79)
Let the point (1, 46) be chosen as the base point P.
The points of the elliptic curve E241( -1 ,188) are shown below: Let K be a chosen secure key: K=(48, 63).
Now, select the bits position to perform traversing
transformation. The result data matrix C is given as below:
250

(179,111) (26,164) (146,77) (182,220)

200 (97, 45) (239,69) (74,159) (30, 86)
(231,43) (189,193) (30,155) (65,197)
150 (152,165) (12,159) (21,149) (156,79)
Y_Axis

100

(179,111) (30, 86) (231,43) (156,79)

50
(26,164) (74,159) (189,193) (21,149)
(146,77) (239,69) (30,155) (12,159)
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 (182,220) (97, 45) (65,197) (152,165)
X_Axis

Figure 2. The set of points on elliptic curve E241( -1 ,188) .

(156,79) (26,164) (74,159) (189,193)
(231,43) (97, 45) (65,197) (21,149)
Each user chooses his secure key and computes his public
(30, 86) (182,220) (152,165) (146,77)
key: n A =61, n B =13, PA = (107, 11), PB = (222,133).
(179,111) (12,159) (30,155) (239,69)
Let the plaintext to be encrypted is: .
First, convert each character to the hexadecimal value as
shown below:

(156,79) (26,164) (97, 45) (65,197)

30 61 33 3B 4D 40 30 4F (74,159) (231,43) (21,149) (179,111)
(189,193) (30, 86) (146,77) (12,159)
Next, separate each value into two values and converts
(182,220) (152,165) (30,155) (239,69)
them to decimal values. Then, compute the mapping points
using addition and doubling operations on EC:
(156,79) (179,111) (189,193) (239,69)
( Qij ) = {(238,204), (91,28), (197,230), (43,107),
(26,164) (21,149) (30, 86) (30,155)
(238,204), (25,72), (238,204), (28,120), (56,78), (240,195), (97, 45) (231,43) (146,77) (152,165)
(56,78), (91,28), (238,204), (91,28), (56,78), (186,53)}
(65,197) (74,159) (12,159) (182,220)
Let A be a chosen non-singular matrix:
Then, the result points are given as follows:
1 1
A= (156,79) (179,111) (189,193) (239,69) (26,164) (21,149)
2 3 (30, 86) (30,155) (97, 45) (231,43) (146,77) (152,165) (65,197)
(74,159) (12,159) (182,220)
Now, apply ECC technique based matrices to get the Therefore, the cipher text to be sent is:
encrypted points stored into square matrix as shown below:

129
IJRITCC | December 2016, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________________
International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 4 Issue: 12 126 131
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Decryption process is just the reverse of the encryption and we
get back to the plaintext easily.

V. RESULTS

It is observed that the proposed algorithm is successfully is

working, it could able to encrypt and decrypt the Amazigh
characters. To prove that it is working well, we have
implemented in JAVA programming language [18], for a
chosen curve. Results are presented to show the security level
by using the Enhanced ECC Algorithm as shown in Figure 3,
Figure 4 and Figure 5.

Figure 5. A screen shot of the decryption process.

The use of Unicode representation makes the cryptanalysis

based on letter frequency of plaintext can be defeated. To
enhance the strength of the cipher we can have more numbers
of rotations with different keys.
Figure 3. Generation of the secure key.
In this implementation, the plaintext is first given in VI. CONCLUSION
Amazigh language then the secret key is used to perform ECC technique is a secure method and is widely used for
the encryption process. This encrypted text will be given as encrypting text messages. It has the ability to provide adequate
input for the decryption process. Then, decryption is performed security with smaller key size. But the advancement in the
to generate the original text. areas of cryptanalysis demands the enhancement of existing
scheme. In this context, we have proposed an enhanced
approach for ECC cryptosystem using Unicode representation,
which provides an additional level of security for elliptic curve
cryptosystem. The method uses Unicode characters instead of
ASCII, and then it is suitable to encrypt most of the written
languages in the world.

REFERENCES
[1] Ali, M, Sagheer, Enhancement of elliptic curves cryptography
methods, MSc. Thesis, University of Technology, Baghdad,
Iraq, 2004.
[2] Su, Pin-Chang, Erl-Huei Lu, and Henry Ker-Chang Chang. "A
knapsack public - key cryptosystem based on elliptic curve
discrete logarithm." Applied mathematics and computation 168
(1): pp.40-46, 2005.
[3] Garima Kaushik and, Shailendra Gaur, Proposed Model for
Network Security Issues Using Elliptical Curve Cryptography,
Figure 4. A screen shot of the encryption process.
IOSR Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering,
Vol. 7, Issue 3, pp. 56-60, 2013.
[4] Maria Celestin Vigila S, Muneeswaran K, Implementation of
Text based Cryptosystem using Elliptic Curve Cryptography,
IEEE, Vol. 9, pp. 82-85, 2009.
[5] Kurt M, Yerlikaya Y. A new modifed cryptosystem based on
Menezes Vanstone elliptic curve cryptography algorithm that
uses characters hexadecimal values. International Conference
on Technological Advances in Electrical, Electronics and

130
IJRITCC | December 2016, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________________
International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 4 Issue: 12 126 131
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer Engineering (TAEECE), Konya: IEEE, 9-11 May,
2013.
[6] Boruah D, Saikia M. Implementation of ElGamal Elliptic
Curve Cryptography over prime field using C. IEEE
International Conference on Information Communication and
Embedded Systems (ICICES), 2014.
[7] Komal Agarwal,Anju Gera, Elliptic Curve Cryptography with
Hill Cipher Generation for secure Text Cryptosystem,
International Journal Of Computer Applications, Vol 106,
No.1, 2014.
[8] Santhoshi Pote, Enhancing the Security of Koblitzs Method
Using Transposition Techniques for Elliptic Curve
Cryptography, International Journal of Research in
Engineering & Advanced Technology, Vol. 2, Issue 6, 2015.
[9] D. R. Hankerson, S. A. Vanstone, and A. J. Menezes, Guide to
Elliptic Curve Cryptography, Springer, 2004.
[10] Geetha G, Padmaja Jain , Implementation of Matrix based
Mapping Method Using Elliptic Curve Cryptography
,International Journal of Computer Applications Technology
and Research Vol. 3, Issue 5, pp. 312-317, 2014.
[11] Maram Balajee, UNICODE and Colors Integration tool for
Encryption and Decryption, published in International Journal
on Computer Science and Engineering, Vol. 3 No. 3, 2011.
[12] L. Zenkouar, Lcriture Amazighe Tifinaghe et Unicode, in
Etudes et documents berbres. Paris (France). No 22, pp. 175-
192, 2004.
[13] Fatima Amounas and El Hassan El Kinani, Cryptography with
Elliptic Curve using Tifinagh Characters, Journal of
Mathematics and System Science 2, pp. 139-144, 2012.
[14] D.Sravana Kumar, CH Suneetha, A.Chadrasekhar, Encryption
of data using Elliptic Curve over finite fields, International
Journal of Distributed and Parallel Systems, Vol 3, No1,
January 2012.
[15] F.Amounas, E.H.EI Kinani, Fast Mapping Method based on
Matrix Approach for Elliptic Curve Cryptography,
International Journal of Information and Network Security,Vol-
1,No 2, pp. 54-59, 2012.
[16] F.Amounas, An Innovative Approach for Enhancing the
Security of Amazigh Text Using Graph Theory Based ECC,
International Journal of Scientific Research in Science,
Engineering and Technology, Vol. 2, Issue 3, pp. 480-487,
2016.
[17] Balamurugan, R, Kamalakannan, V, Rahul G, D, Tamilselvan,
S. Enhancing security in text messages using matrix based
mapping and ElGamal method in elliptic curve cryptography.
In: Contemporary Computing and Informatics, 2014
International Conference on. IEEE, pp 103-106, 2014.
[18] Herbert Shildt, Java complete reference, Tata McGraw-Hill,
2011

131
IJRITCC | December 2016, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org
_______________________________________________________________________________________