SUNY Fredonia professor Dr. Ziya Arnavut has received a patent for a software invention that provides a cost-effective method of encrypting data during transmission. The software, CipherZip, developed in collaboration with 2012 SUNY Fredonia alumnus Dr. Basar Koc of Stetson University and Dr. Hüseyin Koçak of the University of Miami, uniquely combines encryption with lossless data compression in a single, concurrent process. Dr. Arnavut is a professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences.
The integration eliminates the need for separate encryption and compression steps -- commonly performed in sequence using either the compression-then-encryption (CtE) or encryption-then-compression (EtC) models -- thereby improving both efficiency and security.
A core feature of the software is a built-in component of a lossless compression algorithm that enables the dual-function process. The approach significantly reduces the computational and financial costs typically associated with securing and compressing data independently.
The software holds strong practical value for industry applications, allowing systems to generate encrypted and compressed data files while conserving computing resources during both creation and retrieval. It directly addresses two major concerns in data handling -- security and efficiency -- by resolving them within a single streamlined process.
While studying at SUNY Fredonia, Dr. Koc worked with Arnavut on data compression and co-authored several publications with him, laying the foundation for their continued collaboration.
The SUNY Research Foundation filed the patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Arnavut, Koc and Dr. Koçak detailed their work in a 2023 article published in Elsevier's Journal of Information Security.
Arnavut says, "This software solves two of the biggest challenges in data transmission – security and efficiency -- without requiring a trade-off between the two."
