In cryptography, SEAL (Software-Optimized Encryption Algorithm) is a very fast stream cipher optimised for machines with a 32-bit word size and plenty of RAM. SEAL is actually a pseudorandom function family in that it can easily generate arbitrary portions of the keystream without having to start from the beginning. This makes it particularly well suited for applications like encrypting hard drives.
The first version was published by Phillip Rogaway and Don Coppersmith in 1994. The current version, published in 1997, is 3.0. SEAL, covered by two patents in the United States, both of which are assigned to IBM.
Famous quotes containing the word seal:
“You sir, will bring down that renowned chair in which you sit into infamy if your seal is set to this instrument of perfidy; and the name of this nation, hitherto the sweet omen of religion and liberty, will stink to the world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)