Design of LEA: Link encryption algorithm new proposed stream cipher algorithm

Cryptographic algorithms for confidentiality and authentication play a major important role in nowadays information security [1]. Encryption algorithms are becoming more necessary to ensure the securely transmitted data over insecure communication channels. A new stream cipher is proposed. The design is very simple and based on 16 shift registers, nonlinear and an output function. The proposed algorithm is characterized by a high performance in software with measured encryption/decryption on Pentium IV processor. We have performed detailed security analysis, in particular, and standard statistical randomness test of the produced ciphertext. Experimental results in terms of performance and resources are presented.