Abstract: This paper focuses on two new technologies in the IS sector. The Rave Authentication Protocol acts as the initiator of the Spectra encryption protocol. Both these protocols work seamlessly to authenticate BOTH the sending and receiving parties, and provide a high level of encryption to the passed information. It is to be noted, at the outset, that Spectra is NOT a new keying algorithm. It uses EXISTING CIPHER ALGORITHMS (on the lines of PGP) and runs them through the Key Amplification Engine which amplifies their key strength by as much as 32 times their original key length (For example, an 8-bit key can provide security equivalent to a 256 bit encryption), using the resources of the input key length (in this case resources used would be equivalent to an 8-bit key). Rave and Spectra provide a very dynamic authentication and encryption mechanism which generates a DIFFERENT cipher text EACH TIME using the same keys. This allows these technologies to fit optimally in circumstances which require dynamic information encryption like mobile commerce (Also owing to the speed of the overall encryption process). The technologies are also highly scalable and can accommodate keys of any length and magnify their potential accordingly.

Keywords: Authentication, Cryptanalysis, Challenge- Response, Encryption, stream ciphers, Rave, Spectra, 3-DES, Smart Cards.