Optimizing Hybrid Cryptographic Frameworks for Secure Financial Data Transmission in Resource-Constrained Environments
Paul Kobina Arhin, George K. Aggrey, Michael Asante, Linda Otoo · 2025
This paper proposes a novel hybrid cryptographic algorithm that combines the ElGamal cryptographic algorithm and ChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated symmetric encryption to address the dual requirements of security and performance in financial transactions in Africa. The proposed hybrid encryption algorithm seeks to provide a safe, efficient and flexible approach to protect financial transactions in Africa and beyond, by combining the security and strength of both algorithms. ElGamal is dependent on Discrete Logarithm Problem (DLP). DLP is a hard computational problem in cryptography making it computationally hard to solve with modern technology and algorithms. This makes it highly secured. The complexity of the algorithm has resulted in slower encryption and decryption process. ChaCha20-Poly1305, a modern high speed symmetric encryption algorithm, is well known for its fast performance in resource constrained environments and authenticated encryption features. It is less computationally intensive which is effective for devices and environment with limited resource capabilities. By combining these two algorithms, the hybrid system provides a secure and efficient solution tailored to the transactional needs of African financial institutions where there is widespread use of less powerful devise like mobile phones. The proposed system leverages ElGamal for secure key exchange and ChaCha20Poly1305 for fast, authenticated encryption of transactional data. This combination addresses critical security challenges, including confidentiality, integrity, and authentication, while optimizing performance for resource-constrained environments.