By Binta Sanni
Prof. Oluwakemi Abikoye of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Ilorin has developed a Yoruba language cryptosystem to promote security of cyber messages.
Abikoye, while delivering the 270th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Ilorin, explained that a Yoruba language cryptosystem is a computer system that uses cryptography to encrypt and decrypt Yoruba text.
She added that Cryptography is a method of protecting information and communications using codes so that only the intended recipients can read and process.
The invention is made to carry along the Yoruba-speaking people in the advancement taking place in the world of information technology and linguistics and data security.
The don who teaches in the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences of the University explained that the system involves the encryption and decryption of information written in Yoruba as text. This involves using the Caeser Cipher Algorithm and was implemented using Java programming tools, she said in her lecture titled “Invisible Bouncers in the World of Information Security”.
“We adopted a symmetric encryption algorithm that uses one key for both encryption and decryption, and uses digits as its cyphertext,” said Abikoye.
She described the feat as a novel means of ensuring difficulty in breaking the codes as patterns with digits that are not easily recognisable even as she explained that messages can be secured before transmission within a messaging system over the Internet.
“We implemented the algorithm using the java programming language. The result showed that the system gives a different cipher text each time encryption is performed, which makes it efficient
“Due to the increasing security concerns related to data communication over the Internet the Advanced Encryption Standards, AES, is an efficient encryption algorithm that can be used to ensure data security”, the don explained.
Abikoye disclosed that the AES technique could be used to effectively make textual information meaningless to intruders while still being meaningful to the target receiver.
She advised Nigerians to change password of their devices every three months while calling for the use of biometrics and cryptography systems to prevent biometric vulnerabilities.
The benefits of cryptosystems in sending and receiving messages are invaluable for business and personal correspondence. Some of them are confidentiality by ensuring that messages remain confidential and can only be accessed by authorized parties; maintaining integrity of messages from tampering or alteration during transmission; authentication as the identity of the sender is verified to ensure that messages come from a trusted source.
Others are non-repudiation because senders will not from deny the authenticity of a message; secure exchange by allowing parties to communicate securely and protection from interception by unauthorized parties.
Credible News.ng
