MS Excel-Based Application for Implementing the Cryptographic Algorithm Shamir's Secret Sharing

The paper presents the usage of spreadsheets, and more specifically, MS Excel, to build an application that illustrates graphically the secret-sharing algorithm of Israeli cryptographer Shamir. The application helps students learn some aspects of cryptographic information security by presenting this algorithm extremely clearly and making easier to understand the cryptography theory, which is generally difficult because of its mathematical foundations. Numerous examples of Shamir's Secret Sharing obtained by the application with details about the embedded functions used are presented in the paper. The application is used in the training in the course “Telecommunication Security”, included as compulsory in the curriculum of the specialty “Internet and Mobile Communications” for Bachelors at the University of Ruse.