A HYBRID ELLIPTIC CURVE AND DATA ENCRYPTION STANDARD ALGORITHM FOR SECURE DATA COMMUNICATION

n the rapidly evolving landscape of digital communication, ensuring data security remains a paramount concern. This research proposes a hybrid encryption technique that combines the strengths of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and the Data Encryption Standard (DES) to enhance the security of data transmission. The hybrid model leverages the efficiency of DES for symmetric encryption and the robust security features of ECC for asymmetric encryption. The methodology involves first encrypting data using DES and subsequently applying ECC to the DES-encrypted output, thus providing a dual-layer encryption mechanism. The system was implemented using C# on Visual Studio and tested across five plaintext files ranging from 319 MB to 10,127 MB in size. The findings demonstrate that while the hybrid system slightly reduces throughput compared to using DES or ECC alone, it significantly enhances data security. Specifically, encryption throughput for DES was recorded at 64.53%, with ECC at 34.67%. Decryption throughput was 66.87% for DES and 67.86% for ECC, while the hybrid approach showed a balanced yet secure performance. The memory usage of the hybrid system, although higher, offers an acceptable trade-off for enhanced security, growing from 21.34 MB to 73.87 MB depending on the file size. The proposed hybrid approach provides a crucial balance between performance and security, offering a robust solution for secure data communication. It contributes significantly to the field by addressing the limitations of individual encryption algorithms, ensuring higher security at the cost of minimal performance reduction.