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NAME

Crypt::RC4 - Perl implementation of the RC4 encryption algorithm


SYNOPSIS

  use Crypt::RC4;
  $encrypted = RC4( $passphrase, $plaintext );
  $decrypt = RC4( $passphrase, $encrypted );


DESCRIPTION

A simple implementation of the RC4 algorithm, developed by RSA Security, Inc. Here is the description from RSA's website:

RC4 is a stream cipher designed by Rivest for RSA Data Security (now RSA Security). It is a variable key-size stream cipher with byte-oriented operations. The algorithm is based on the use of a random permutation. Analysis shows that the period of the cipher is overwhelmingly likely to be greater than 10100. Eight to sixteen machine operations are required per output byte, and the cipher can be expected to run very quickly in software. Independent analysts have scrutinized the algorithm and it is considered secure.

Based substantially on the ``RC4 in 3 lines of perl'' found at http://www.cypherspace.org

A major bug in v1.0 was fixed by David Hook (dgh@wumpus.com.au) Thanks, David.


AUTHOR

Ronald Rivest for RSA Security, Inc. Kurt Kincaid (sifukurt@yahoo.com) David Hook (dgh@wumpus.com.au)


SEE ALSO

perl(1), http://www.cypherspace.org, http://www.rsasecurity.com