Hybrid Algorithm using Rivest-Shamir-Adleman and Elliptic Curve Cryptography for Secure Email Communication

Email serves as the primary communication system in our daily lives, and to bolster its security and efficiency, many email systems employ Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). However, the convenience of email also introduces numerous security vulnerabilities, including unauthorized access, eavesdropping, identity spoofing, interception, and data tampering. This study is primarily focused on examining how two encryption techniques, RSA and ECC, affect the efficiency of secure email systems. Furthermore, the research seeks to introduce a hybrid cryptography algorithm that utilizes both RSA and ECC to ensure security and confidentiality in the context of secure email communication. The research evaluates various performance metrics, including key exchange time, encryption and decryption durations, signature generation, and verification times, to understand how these encryption methods affect the efficiency and efficacy of secure email communication. The experimental findings highlight the advantages of ECC in terms of Key Exchange Time, making it a compelling choice for establishing secure email communication channels. While RSA demonstrates a slight advantage in encryption, decryption, and signature generation for smaller files, ECC's efficiency becomes apparent as file sizes increase, positioning it as a favorable option for handling larger attachments in secure emails. Through the comparison of experiments, it is also concluded that the hybrid encryption algorithm optimizes the key exchange times, encryption efficiency, signature generation and verification times.