Comparative Analysis of Different Multilevel States for Four Notable Cryptographic Schemes

Abstract

Multilevel cryptography refers to the use of multiple layers of encryption algorithms and keys to protect sensitive data and communications. The output of the encryption at the first layer becomes an input to the second encryption algorithm. The output of the second encryption algorithm becomes an input to the third encryption algorithm, and so on until the desired layers are satisfied. Suchamultileveled approach might be implemented using the same or different encryption algorithms.In this article, we conducted an extensive examination of different possible combinations of symmetric-key (Advanced Encryption Standard, (AES) and Digital Encryption Standard, (DES)) and asymmetric-key (Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman cryptography, (RSA) and Elliptic-Curve Cryptography, (ECC)) cryptosystems for data encryption and security byusing questionnaires. Comparative assessments of performance, scalability, computational complexity, memory requirements, and hardware optimization capabilities were carried out to identify the strengths and weaknesses in a combined state. Some key performance metrics such as speed, throughput, and resource utilization were determined per scheme implementation using an experimental platform to complement the theoretical analysis. Examinations of known cryptanalytic attacks, susceptibility to quantum attacks, and real-world vulnerability trends evaluated the security resilience of the systems. Factors such as implementation challenges, key management, standardization status, and adoption in practice were considered from an application perspective. A prototype general architecture for multilevel cryptosystem that can withstand any blind cryptanalytic attack was presented. Result shows that there is better performance in terms of encryption and decryption when AES is multileveled with RSA in contrast to DES performance with either RSA or ECC.  Furthermore, ECC frequently surpasses RSA in speed for asymmetric cryptographic tasks owing to its utilization of shorter key lengths to achieve comparable security levels. Nevertheless, real-world performance may fluctuate depending on implementation intricacies and the capabilities of specific hardware. Using multilevel encryption algorithms gives a better assurance to information safety as it shows more proof against cryptanalytic attack.