Re: Encryption algorithm

From: Robert Jones (robert_at_jones0086.freeserve.co.uk)
Date: 01/09/04 

Date: 9 Jan 2004 13:06:59 -0800

aul1231@yahoo.com (Vik Mehta) wrote in message news:<2df8b8ca.0401070700.67c3ec95@posting.google.com>...
> I am looking for a simple encryption algorithm to encrypt a 13
> character alphanumeric string in a COBOL program. Any help will be
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Vik

Hello Vik,

I think most suppliers provide APIs or subroutines that can do this
for you. As others have mentioned, unless your requirement is just to
prevent casual observation, you should be very wary of roll-your-own
solutions because cryptography is a problematic subject liable to many
pitfalls that allow crackers to easily circumvent your encryption.
There are several books on the subject that make this point and I have
no doubt there are also several online discussions. There is probably
at least one cryptograpby news group.

Regards

Robert