Information, Computer and Network Security Terms Glossary and Dictionary

Chaffing and Winnowing

"Chaffing and winnowing" is a privacy-enhancement scheme without encryption. It consists of adding false packets to a message at the source (chaffing), and then removing the false packets at the destination (winnowing). The sender breaks the message into packets, and authenticates each packet, in which the "message authentication code" or "MAC" is computed as a function of the packet contents and the secret authentication key. The secret key is shared by the sender and the receiver to authenticate the origin and contents of each packet by the legitimate to determine that a packet is authentic by recomputing the MAC and comparing it to the received MAC.

Related Terms

Chaffing and Winnowing