{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,14]],"date-time":"2026-04-14T06:36:25Z","timestamp":1776148585279,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,27]],"date-time":"2022-09-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1664236800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) Cryptography has revolutionized information security by combining rigorous biological and mathematical concepts to encode original information in terms of a DNA sequence. Such schemes are crucially dependent on corresponding DNA-based cryptographic keys. However, owing to the redundancy or observable patterns, some of the keys are rendered weak as they are prone to intrusions. This paper proposes a Genetic Algorithm inspired method to strengthen weak keys obtained from Random DNA-based Key Generators instead of completely discarding them. Fitness functions and the application of genetic operators have been chosen and modified to suit DNA cryptography fundamentals in contrast to fitness functions for traditional cryptographic schemes. The crossover and mutation rates are reducing with each new population as more keys are passing fitness tests and need not be strengthened. Moreover, with the increasing size of the initial key population, the key space is getting highly exhaustive and less prone to Brute Force attacks. The paper demonstrates that out of an initial 25 \u00d7 25 population of DNA Keys, 14 keys are rendered weak. Complete results and calculations of how each weak key can be strengthened by generating 4 new populations are illustrated. The analysis of the proposed scheme for different initial populations shows that a maximum of 8 new populations has to be generated to strengthen all 500 weak keys of a 500 \u00d7 500 initial population.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s22197332","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,28]],"date-time":"2022-09-28T03:30:37Z","timestamp":1664335837000},"page":"7332","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":60,"title":["Best Fit DNA-Based Cryptographic Keys: The Genetic Algorithm Approach"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Pratyusa","family":"Mukherjee","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Engineering, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneshwar 751024, India"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4273-2328","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hitendra","family":"Garg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Engineering and Applications, GLA University, Mathura 281406, India"}]},{"given":"Chittaranjan","family":"Pradhan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Engineering, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneshwar 751024, India"}]},{"given":"Soumik","family":"Ghosh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Siemens Technology Services Private Limited, Mumbai 560100, India"}]},{"given":"Subrata","family":"Chowdhury","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering Technology, Chittoor 517127, India"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9851-4103","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gautam","family":"Srivastava","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Brandon University, Brandon, MB R7A 6A9, Canada"},{"name":"Research Centre for Interneural Computing, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan"},{"name":"Department of Computer Science and Math, Lebanese American University, Beirut 1102, Lebanon"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gehani, A., LaBean, T., and Reif, J. (2003). DNA-Based Cryptography. Aspects of Molecular Computing, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-24635-0_12"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1413","DOI":"10.1007\/s11434-006-2012-5","article-title":"New field of cryptography: DNA cryptography","volume":"51","author":"Xiao","year":"2006","journal-title":"Chin. Sci. Bull."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Borda, M., and Tornea, O. (2010). DNA secret writing techniques. Proceedings of the 2010 8th International Conference on Communications, Bucharest, Romania, 10\u201312 June 2010, IEEE.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICCOMM.2010.5509086"},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"533","article-title":"Color image encryption using DNA based cryptography","volume":"13","author":"Nandy","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Inf. Technol."},{"key":"ref_5","first-page":"167","article-title":"A survey on different DNA cryptographic methods","volume":"2","author":"Cherian","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. J. Sci. Res."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pramanik, S., and Setua, S.K. (2012). DNA cryptography. Proceedings of the 2012 7th International Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 20\u201322 December 2012, IEEE.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICECE.2012.6471609"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8091","DOI":"10.1007\/s11042-020-10139-6","article-title":"A review on genetic algorithm: Past, present, and future","volume":"80","author":"Katoch","year":"2021","journal-title":"Multimed. Tools Appl."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mirjalili, S. (2019). Genetic algorithm. Evolutionary Algorithms and Neural Networks, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-93025-1"},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"Bottaci, L. (2001, January 12\u201319). A genetic algorithm fitness function for mutation testing. Proceedings of the SEMINALL-Workshop at the 23rd International Conference on Software Engineering, Toronto, ON, Canada."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"135","DOI":"10.1016\/0305-0548(93)E0024-N","article-title":"Genetic algorithm crossover operators for ordering applications","volume":"22","author":"Poon","year":"1995","journal-title":"Comput. Oper. Res."},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"1","article-title":"Genetic algorithm performance with different selection strategies in solving TSP","volume":"Volume 2","author":"Razali","year":"2011","journal-title":"Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering, London, UK, 6\u20138 July 2011"},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"239","article-title":"Simulated crossover in genetic algorithms","volume":"Volume 2","author":"Syswerda","year":"1993","journal-title":"Foundations of Genetic Algorithms"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"285","DOI":"10.1016\/S1568-4946(02)00021-2","article-title":"Mutation-based genetic algorithm: Performance evaluation","volume":"1","author":"Tarantino","year":"2002","journal-title":"Appl. Soft Comput."},{"key":"ref_14","first-page":"137","article-title":"Using genetic algorithm for symmetric key generation in image encryption","volume":"1","author":"Soni","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Adv. Res. Comput. Eng. Technol. IJARCET"},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"380","article-title":"To design a genetic algorithm for cryptography to enhance the security","volume":"2","author":"Singh","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. J. Innov. Eng. Technol."},{"key":"ref_16","first-page":"150","article-title":"Public key cryptography using genetic algorithm","volume":"2","author":"Mishra","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. J. RecentTechnol. Eng."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"10","article-title":"A study on cryptography using genetic algorithm","volume":"118","author":"Jhingran","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Comput. Appl."},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"239","article-title":"Genetic Symmetric Key Generation for IDEA","volume":"11","author":"Malhotra","year":"2015","journal-title":"JIPS"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1155\/2017\/7436709","article-title":"An improved genetic algorithm for developing deterministic OTP key generator","volume":"2017","author":"Jain","year":"2017","journal-title":"Complexity"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e37","DOI":"10.1002\/spy2.37","article-title":"An efficient mechanism to generate dynamic keys based on genetic algorithm","volume":"4","author":"Chunka","year":"2018","journal-title":"Secur. Priv."},{"key":"ref_21","first-page":"375","article-title":"Implication of genetic algorithm in cryptography to enhance security","volume":"9","author":"Nazeer","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Adv. Comput. Sci. Appl."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1007\/s10916-017-0851-z","article-title":"DNA cryptography and deep learning using genetic algorithm with NW algorithm for key generation","volume":"42","author":"Kalsi","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Med. Syst."},{"key":"ref_23","first-page":"54","article-title":"Cryptographic Key Generation by Genetic Algorithms","volume":"43","author":"Javurek","year":"2019","journal-title":"Inf. Secur."},{"key":"ref_24","first-page":"1109","article-title":"Key Generation for DNA Cryptography Using Genetic Operators and Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange Algorithm","volume":"15","author":"Vidhya","year":"2020","journal-title":"Comput. Sci."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"739","DOI":"10.1007\/s10586-020-03157-4","article-title":"CryptoGA: A cryptosystem based on genetic algorithm for cloud data security","volume":"24","author":"Tahir","year":"2021","journal-title":"Clust. Comput."},{"key":"ref_26","first-page":"434","article-title":"Features of genetic algorithm for plain text encryption","volume":"11","author":"Abduljabbar","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Electr. Comput. Eng."},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"37","article-title":"Audio Cryptography via Enhanced Genetic Algorithm","volume":"13","author":"Alhassan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Multimed. Appl. IJMA"},{"key":"ref_28","first-page":"362","article-title":"A novel Genetic Algorithm based Encryption Technique for Securing Data on Fog Network Using DNA Cryptography","volume":"Volume 2","author":"Garg","year":"2022","journal-title":"Proceedings of the 2022 2nd International Conference on Innovative Practices in Technology and Management (ICIPTM), Pradesh, India, 23\u201325 February 2022"},{"key":"ref_29","first-page":"200","article-title":"Key Generation for Vigenere Ciphering Based on Genetic Algorithm","volume":"30","author":"Hussein","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Univ. Babylon Pure Appl. Sci."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1493","DOI":"10.1007\/s11554-020-01005-7","article-title":"Real-time cheating immune secret sharing for remote sensing images","volume":"18","author":"Shivani","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Real-Time Image Process."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26873","DOI":"10.1007\/s11042-021-11578-5","article-title":"Spoofing detection system for e-health digital twin using EfficientNet Convolution Neural Network","volume":"81","author":"Garg","year":"2022","journal-title":"Multimed. Tools Appl."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shekhar, S., Garg, H., Agrawal, R., Shivani, S., and Sharma, B. (2021). Hatred and trolling detection transliteration framework using hierarchical LSTM in code-mixed social media text. Complex Intell. Syst., 1\u201314.","DOI":"10.1007\/s40747-021-00487-7"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gupta, M., Patel, R.B., Jain, S., Garg, H., and Sharma, B. (2022). Lightweight branched blockchain security framework for Internet of Vehicles. Trans. Emerg. Telecommun. Technol., e4520.","DOI":"10.1002\/ett.4520"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gupta, M., Kumar, R., Shekhar, S., Sharma, B., Patel, R.B., Jain, S., Dhaou, I.B., and Iwendi, C. (2022). Game Theory-Based Authentication Framework to Secure Internet of Vehicles with Blockchain. Sensors, 22.","DOI":"10.3390\/s22145119"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2627","DOI":"10.1007\/s11277-020-07700-9","article-title":"Enhanced Binary Hexagonal Extrema Pattern (EBHXEP) Descriptor for Iris Liveness Detection","volume":"115","author":"Agarwal","year":"2020","journal-title":"Wirel. Pers. Commun."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1357","DOI":"10.1007\/s00371-020-01870-0","article-title":"Local binary hexagonal extrema pattern (LBHXEP): A new feature descriptor for fake iris detection","volume":"37","author":"Agarwal","year":"2021","journal-title":"Vis. Comput."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2030001","DOI":"10.1142\/S021798492030001X","article-title":"A review on presentation attack detection system for fake fingerprint","volume":"34","author":"Agarwal","year":"2020","journal-title":"Mod. Phys. Lett. B"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.comcom.2022.02.008","article-title":"A novel cryptosystem based on DNA cryptography, hyperchaotic systems and a randomly generated Moore machine for cyber physical systems","volume":"188","author":"Pavithran","year":"2022","journal-title":"Comput. Commun."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rupa, C., Harshita, M., Srivastava, G., Gadekallu, T.R., and Maddikunta, P.K. (2022). Securing Multimedia using a Deep Learning based Chaotic Logistic Map. IEEEJ. Biomed. HealthInform.","DOI":"10.1109\/JBHI.2022.3178629"}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/22\/19\/7332\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:40:24Z","timestamp":1760143224000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/22\/19\/7332"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,27]]},"references-count":39,"journal-issue":{"issue":"19","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10]]}},"alternative-id":["s22197332"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s22197332","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,27]]}}}