On The Use of Genetic Algorithms in Verifying and Producing Message Digests for Secure Communication Systems

摘要

A novel procedure based on genetic algorithms is presented for the evaluation and production of message digests in the design of secure communication systems. These digests are computed using the methodology of un-keyed one-way functions (hash functions). The problem of evaluating the quality of such functions is formulated as a global optimization one in the space spanned by all possible messages and is approached from a practical viewpoint by involving genetic algorithms, contrary to the very few similar research efforts existing in the literature that are of only theoretical interest. Moreover, the problem of producing message digests of good quality for use in communication systems is formulated in terms of a hash function constructed by involving the genetic algorithm procedure, exclusively utilizing the crossover operator and the steady-state reproduction method and omitting its random components. An extensive experimental study is conducted to assess the quality of the results produced by applying the herein suggested two novel approaches, employing SHA, the known message digest algorithm, in the comparison procedure. The promising results herein obtained illustrate the importance of applying genetic algorithms in communication systems security design.