DNA-Genetic Encryption Technique

DNA-Genetic Encryption Technique
Abstract—The report discusses a new cryptographic
algorithm using biological computation. DNA sequencing is
used to encode data. The process is secure, effective and the
future of cryptography.
Keywords—cryptography, DNA, encryption, algorithm
I. INTRODUCTION
In this digital world, security of data flowing is a major
issue. Encryption of both static and flowing data,
implementation of control on user access becomes
important. Cryptography is the branch that deals with
encoding and decoding of sensitive data and unauthorized
access from a third party. Numerous cryptographic methods
are implemented for securing sensitive data in the network
channel. DNA Genetic Encryption Technique or D-GET is a
rapidly evolving technology that is both secure and
unpredictable. The concept of biological framework of the
DNA also knows as molecular computing is used. The
process helps in transmission of data packets over the
network channel faster and securely. The binary digital data
is converted into DNA sequence. The sequence is encrypted,
mutated and crossed over. Certain stages gets repeated in D-
GET model [1]. The encrypted data is decrypted with a key.
Without proper encryption technique it is not possible to
retrieve information from an encrypted information. Hence
proper encryption key is required in this context. This
process has another benefit too. As information is not
possible to retrieve proper encryption key, it is not
accessible without proper authorization. The technique has
proved to promote higher level of data security. DNA
cryptography is believed to put forward unbreakable
algorithms. DNA cryptography technique has several
advantages- high computation speed, minimal requirement
of storage system and power utilization.
II. DISCUSSION
Cryptography includes mathematical techniques to maintain
data authentication and integrity. It basically attach an
encryption technique along with an encryption key that is
integrated with the document that needs to be secured so that
it is not easily interpreted. There are various cryptographic
algorithms. However, not every algorithm is equally secured
and effective and hence proper analysis is required in this
context. DNA Cryptographic methods can be used to
encrypt not only images and texts, but also audio and video
clips and money transaction [4]. DNA (Deoxyribonucleic
acid) is double helix structure, which carries genetic
information and is present in the mitochondria of the cell.
DNA-Genetic Encryption Technique D-GET is an iterative
algorithm uses bio-molecular approach for encoding the
plaintext. The technique uses the DNA properties and the
process requires minimum storage and computes with high
efficiency [1]. Data of any kind, for example image,
message or video can be easily encrypted using DGET. The
string generated by using DGET is highly secure and
efficient. The functions used improves the complete working
of the algorithm. Power consumption for such techniques
are also low [3]. For encrypting a data through the DGET
model there are five steps involved [2]. The steps of DGET
are as follows:
a) Pre-processing Stage, b) Symmetric key encryption, c)
Reshaping, d) Crossover and
e) Mutation.
A. Pre-processing stage
The chemical bases of DNA are: adenine (A), cytosine(C),
guanine (G), and thymine (T). Each base of the DNA has
an ASCII value. (A) is coded as 00, (C) as 01, (G) as 10 and
(T) as 11.
In gray image, pixels are converted into 8-bit
binary. In case of RGB image, the bases are separated into
three components. For videos, information are deducted
from the video like the size of the file, duration, format and
frame rate. Each frame is separated and saved into memory.
Data can be easily represented in binary form. Data is
grouped into 8-bits. Group of two bits are converted into the

four bases of the DNA sequence, that is the 1s and 0s are
converted in to A, C, G and T.
B. Key Encryption Stage
Symmetric and Asymmetric key algorithms are the two
categories of the cryptographic algorithms. In symmetric
scheme, a key, which is common to both the sender and the
receiver is shared. Whereas asymmetric schemes require
both private and public keys. The keys are related
mathematically. Symmetric cryptography algorithm can
easily encrypt huge quality and quantity of data with high
speed. After the data is converted into the DNA sequence
using the key. The key used is of variable length and can be
binary string or DNA sequence. Exclusive OR is performed
on the binary data and on the common key. Then the code is
converted into the DNA sequence.
C. Reshaping Stage
The next operation performed on the encrypted DNA
sequence is reshaping. The dense chromosome population
that is generated is reshaped. The length of the chromosome
are determined. The very first number of the chromosome
generated is noted. The values can vary or remain constant
in every circle. Reshaping is done by aligning the sequence
to construct rows of parental chromosomes and the length is
pre-defined.
D. Crossover Stage
The next operation to be applied on the chromosome
population is crossover. This stage involves two types of
crossover- single-point crossover and rotation crossover. In
a single-point crossover, the first and last bit of the parent
chromosome sequence is selected in creating new offspring.
Two such offspring are created by interchanging the head
bits of the parents. The child chromosome carries codes
from both the parents. In rotation crossover the aligned
DNA sequence are either rotated left or right with their
predetermined value.
E. Mutation Stage
Mutation stage comes right after crossover stage where the
chromosomes are submitted to mutation. This process alters
the strings of the coded element. Mutation process involves
two kinds. Type one converts the coded data to the binary
form and mutation points are mentioned between first and
end bits. The bits are complemented. Type two converts a
group of four bits into two DNA base. After the conversion,
the DNA bases are altered and two points are marked in
between the first and the end base. The DNA bases are
altered [2]. Then the mutated data is send to the sender. The
sender on its end using the common key decrypts,
crossovers and mutates to get the original form of the data.
D-GET uses MATLAB [2]. Experiments are conducted to
prove the efficiency of the technique on different image
formats. The RGB image, is first separated into 3
components and the encrypted using DGET process and the
image is saved. Important matter is after encryption there is
no visual connection between the encrypted and the original
one.
III. CONCLUSION
DNA-Genetic Encryption Technique implementation is
being used largely in the cryptographic field. The process is
secure as it includes multiple iterative methods. Security in
this aspect is an important and essential requirement as the
data that is considered in this context is very important from
privacy point of view. The algorithm performs genetic
operations. The complete process includes five stages which
greatly increases the quality of the encrypted content. This
process can be applied on texts, audio and video clips.
Hence this process is an important one as it is not only
versatile, it is efficient too which is required for this kind of
advanced applications. The plaintext is transformed into a
DNA sequence using a key. The originality of the message
remains a secret as an intruder cannot know whether it is an
image or a text. To decrypt the generated cypher is highly
impossible. Proper authorization is required and hence this
process is so difficult to exploit which is required for
accessing encrypted information properly. There is
protection in each layer, which makes the technique robust
and effective.