Encryption refers to converting a piece of text or data into encoded information called ciphertext using a predetermined code or algorithm so that those who know the code or algorithm can decode the ciphertext to reveal the original data. This article defines encryption and explains how it works. It also explains the different types of encryption and how they work together to provide a secure and trustworthy Internet. Show
What Is Encryption?Encryption refers to converting a piece of text or data into encoded information called ciphertext using a predetermined code or algorithm so that those who know the code or algorithm can decode the ciphertext to reveal the original data. Encryption is the method of masking or enciphering information so that it may be read only by those who can decipher it. It is essential for a trustworthy and secure Internet. It contributes to securing sensitive information. Encryption is often used to safeguard data kept on electronic systems and data exchanged across computer networks, such as the internet. Fiscal transactions and private messaging often use encryption for security purposes. It is crucial when we need to determine if data has been altered (data integrity), to boost people’s trust that they are interacting with the persons they believe they are speaking with (identity verification), and to ensure that communications have been delivered and received (non-repudiation). Encryption is a method for rendering data unintelligible to an unauthorized third party. This aims to deter fraudsters, who may have employed sophisticated methods to obtain access to a company’s network only to discover that the information is incomprehensible and, therefore, worthless. Encryption not only preserves the privacy of data or communications but also offers authenticity and integrity, demonstrating that the information or communications have not been changed from their original condition. See More: What Is Threat Modeling? Definition, Process, Examples, and Best Practices How did modern encryption systems come into being?The usage of codes and ciphers to safeguard secrets dates back thousands of years. Until recent times, the history of cryptography was dominated by what may be termed “classical” techniques, such as pen-and-paper or simple mechanical assistance. Until the 1960s, governments dominated the field of safe encryption. The establishment of a public encryption standard (DES) and the discovery of public-key cryptography have moved it squarely into the public domain. Encryption may be traced back to its religious application in ancient Egyptian, Grecian, and Roman martial culture, through the World Wars and the invention of the first computer, to its current use in the World Wide Web era. In most situations, people are ignorant of the widespread usage of encryption in contemporary society. Primarily, encryption is used to conduct transactions across insecure communication channels, like the internet. The earliest encryption was the substitution cipher, which used a relatively basic way of substituting units (letters or letter groups) with other components utilizing a rubric of substitution principles, e.g., A=J, B=K, etc. Before computers, encryption confidentiality was assured by sending and receiving cipher keys. Therefore, regardless of whether the messenger was apprehended, one could not decipher the message. In contemporary cryptography, the safety of encryption does not rely on the encryption technique (or algorithm) but on the secrecy of the encryption and decryption keys. RSA (named after its creators Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman) developed the notion of a set of public and private keys for encryption. See More: What Is Cyber Threat Intelligence? Definition, Objectives, Challenges, and Best Practices Why is encryption so important?There are several reasons why modern enterprises rely so heavily on encryption technology for communication and data storage. It helps in the following:
See More: What Is a Security Vulnerability? Definition, Types, and Best Practices for Prevention How Does Encryption Work?The core encryption process is relatively straightforward — using algorithms, encryption scrambles your data. The message is subsequently transferred to the recipient, who may decode it using a key. There are several sorts of algorithms, each of which involves distinct methods for encrypting and decrypting information. Particularly for scrambling and decrypting data, a randomized sequence of bits termed a key is generated. These are used for encrypting or decrypting data. Each key is generated using a technique that ensures its randomness. Longer keys are more secure. Standard key lengths for symmetric key algorithms are 128 bits, and for public key algorithms, they are 2048 bits. The algorithm is the mechanism followed by the encryption process, and the individual algorithm is known as the cipher or code. Numerous kinds of encryption algorithms exist. The objective and degree of security of the encryption determine the most efficient technique. Instances of encryption algorithms or ciphers include Triple DES, RSA, and Blowfish. Instances of encryption algorithms or ciphers include Triple DES, RSA, and Blowfish, as we will discuss later in this article. See More: What Is Cybersecurity? Definition, Importance, Threats, and Best Practices 3 Phases of encryptionData encryption consists of three phases. First, you enter any data you want to encrypt along with a key (Password or passphrase). Second, you will submit them to an encryption method as input when you have them. The algorithm then modifies the input data utilizing the Encryption key and sends the modified output. One may then deliver the result to the second person through any channel or can retain the encoded information for future use. The receiver will submit the decryption key and encrypted information to a decryption algorithm when it receives the data. The receiver will submit the decryption key and encrypted information to a decryption algorithm when it gets the data. Frequency analysis is another crucial concept in encryption. It is a method for breaking ciphers. Those attempting to decipher a communication will examine the occurrence of letters and letter combinations inside the ciphertext. Because certain letters appear more frequently, the recurrence of characters might betray portions of the encrypted text. This approach was successful against older encryption schemes; however, it is useless against contemporary encryption. Today, data encryption on a backup system renders it worthless to a hacker. One could only access the data on a stolen encrypted disc with a key (like a password) or the original system that encrypted it. See More: What Is a Trojan Horse? Meaning, Examples, and Prevention Best Practices How do encryption tools work?Various free and paid solutions are available for encrypting individual files, folders, and even hard drives. Some of these include:
In addition to desktops, one may secure mobile phones and SD cards for additional storage. Before enabling encryption, it is usual for smartphones to necessitate that you create a PIN, password, or swiping sequence to unlock your phone. If this is not configured, you may not have the option to encrypt SD cards in your settings. After setting a PIN, passcode, or swiping sequence to access the screen, one may encrypt the card from the Settings menu. See More: What Is Endpoint Encryption? Definition, Architecture and Best Practices Types of EncryptionThere are two ways to classify encryption — symmetric/asymmetric encryption and based on the type of algorithm used. Therefore, the eight critical types of encryption are: 1. Symmetric encryptionThis approach, also known as private-key cryptography or a secret key algorithm, needs both the person sending and the one receiving the text to possess the same key. Therefore, the receiver must possess the keys before decoding the communication. This strategy is most effective for contained systems since they are less susceptible to third-party incursions. On the upside, this type of encryption is much faster than its asymmetric counterpart. However, both parties must ensure that the key is kept safe and accessible only to the program that needs to utilize it. 2. Asymmetric encryptionThis type of encryption employs the concept of a key pair, in which the encryption and decryption processes use distinct keys. Typically, one of these keys is the private key, and the other is the public key. The owner keeps the private key confidential, while the public key is shared with approved recipients or made accessible to the public. Only the recipient’s private key may decode data encrypted using the recipient’s public key. Therefore, one may send data without the threat of unauthorized or illegal access. 3. RSA encryptionRSA is an asymmetrical cryptographic method. Asymmetric implies that it operates on two distinct keys, the public and private keys. The public key is made available to all, while the private key is protected. RSA is founded on the notion that it is hard to factorize a big number. The public key consists of two numbers, one product of two huge prime integers. RSA keys are usually 1024 or 2048 bits in length; however, experts predict that 1024-bit keys might be hacked soon, even though the operation is currently unrealistic. 4. Data Encryption Standard (DES) encryptionThe Data Encryption Standard is the first encryption standard of the United States government. Originally believed to be impenetrable, the rise in processing power and reduction in hardware costs have made 56-bit encryption almost obsolete. This is particularly true for sensitive data. The low-level encryption is simple to implement and requires little computer resources. Consequently, it is widely used by smart cards and minimal resource equipment, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. 5. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryptionThe Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is presently the trusted encryption standard of the US government. It is founded on the Rijndael algorithm invented by Belgian cryptographers Vincent Rijmen and Joan Daemen. They sent their approach to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and beat 14 competitors to become the official DES replacement. AES employs a symmetric block cipher and a symmetric key method. Three key sizes are available: 128, 192, and 256 bits. Additionally, various rounds of encryption exist for each key size. See More: What Is Email Security? Definition, Benefits, Examples, and Best Practices 6. Twofish encryptionTwofish was a finalist in the NIST Advanced Encryption Standard competition, but Rijndael won. The Twofish technique employs key lengths of 128, 196, and 256 bits and has a complicated key structure, making it difficult to decrypt. Security professionals regard Twofish as one of the quickest data encryption frameworks and an excellent option for both hardware and software. Moreover, Twofish encryption is free for anybody to use. It is included in oft-used free encryption applications like VeraCrypt, PeaZip, etc. 7. 3DES encryption3DES is a data encryption algorithm developed from the Data Encryption Standard (DES). It rose to prominence in the late 1990s but has since lost popularity as more secure algorithms like AES-256 and XChaCha20 have emerged. While it is slated to be deprecated in 2023, it is still used in some scenarios. The Data Encryption Standard (DES) is a symmetric-key technique established on a Feistel network. The same key is used for encryption and decryption as a symmetric key cipher. DES has 64-bit block and key sizes, although the key only provides 56 bits of security. 8. XChaCha20 encryptionXChaCha20 is an algorithm for encrypting and decrypting information. It supports two distinct key lengths, with 256-bit encryption as the most secure. In 2005 and 2008, Daniel J. Bernstein separately devised the techniques, Poly1305, and ChaCha20, which serve as the construction’s building pieces. One can implement it quicker than AES-256. Additionally, it is around three times quicker on systems without AES hardware. Slowly but surely, mobile platforms are migrating to XChaCha20; therefore, in the coming years, it will be recognized on an even broader scale. See More: What Is Intrusion Detection and Prevention System? Definition, Examples, Techniques, and Best Practices TakeawayToday, encryption is an intrinsic part of nearly every component of IT infrastructure. From protecting our email communication and WhatsApp messages to securing Zoom calls and web pages, sophisticated encryption algorithms help create ciphertext that is near-impossible to beat. However, organizations and developer teams should not take encryption for granted and should take proactive measures to incorporate it into their cybersecurity strategy. Did this article answer all your questions on encryption? Tell us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you! MORE ON SECURITY
How does encryption work quizlet?How does encryption work? Encryption transforms a message or data file in such a way that its contents are hidden from unauthorized readers. An original message or file that has not yet been encrypted is referred to as plaintext or cleartext. An encrypted message or file is referred to as ciphertext.
What is the term used in cryptography when the same key is used to encrypt and decrypt the data?Symmetric encryption uses the same key to perform both encryption and decryption functions. Symmetric encryption uses a shared private key while asymmetric encryption uses a public/private key pair.
What is the term used in cryptography for the message after encryption?In computing, unencrypted data is also known as plaintext, and encrypted data is called ciphertext.
What is the single most important feature of stream cipher encryption that could prevent reused key streams?What is the single most important feature of stream encryption that could prevent reused key streams? Issue a new key at least every 2 years and use that key for all subsequent encryption tasks.
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