Fundamentals of cryptography

Cryptography implements the aims of communications security such as data confidentiality, data integrity and so on with the aid of the following cryptographic methods:

• Encryption methods

• Cryptographic hash functions and Message Authentication Codes (MACs)

• Digital signatures

Most cryptographic methods require strong random numbers. To prevent every individual cryptographic application having to implement methods for generating suitable random numbers, the random number generator PRNGD (Pseudo Random Number Generator Demon) is available centrally in BS2000 (see the “interNet Services Administrator Guide”).