Applications and Limitations of Diffie-Hellman algorithm

Diffie-Hellman-Algorithm is primarily a protocol that is used for key exchange. Using this interactive protocol two parties will derive a common secret key by communicating each other. The security of Diffie-Hellman algorithm is mainly based on the difficulty of computing the discrete logarithms.

Applications of Diffie Hellman Algorithm:
Many protocol uses Diffie-Hellman algorithm to enhance security and few of them are:

1. Secure Shell (SSH)
2. Transport Layer Security (TLS) / Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
3. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
4. Internet Key Exchange (IKE)
5. Internet Protocol Security (IPSec)

Limitations of Diffie Hellman Algorithm:
The following are the limitations of Diffie-Hellman algorithm:

1. Lack of authentication procedure.
2. Algorithm can be used only for symmetric key exchange.
3. As there is no authentication involved, it is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attack.
4. As it is computationally intensive, it is expensive in terms of resources and CPU performance time.
5. Encryption of information cannot be performed with the help of this algorithm.
6. Digital signature cannot be signed using Diffie-Hellman algorithm.

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