In today's digital world, we are inundated by a lot of information, from emails to website data, videos, photos, and many other documents, all traveling from the WWW (World Wide Web) to your computer, phone, or TV. As a result, there are infinite probabilities for the data to be stolen or intercepted by cybercriminals. But as we know, if there is a villain, there will always be a hero. And our hero, who protects all our data, is called Encryption.
What is Encryption?
Encryption is a method of
converting plaintext into ciphertext (random placement of alphabets and
numbers).
As you can notice in the preceding
image, “client 1” is sending a message to “client 2”. The message sent has been
encrypted. And, “client 2“ would decrypt the message with the assistance of a
decryption key. This approach helps us to maintain and protect the
confidentiality of data.
The
importance of data encryption
Below are the two main reasons why data encryption is essential.
1. Privacy: Either in the physical world or the digital world, all we want is privacy. I don't know about the physical world, but we can have our privacy in the digital world with encryption methods. Encryption ensures that our data is seen only by authorized or legitimate users and prevents hackers, cybercriminals, internet providers, and even government institutes from reading and accessing our data.
I hope you've come across a caution in WhatsApp, which says End-to-End Encryption. It means your messages are encrypted, and no third party can see them.
2. Authentication: Encryption scrambles data using a randomly generated passcode, called an encryption key, to protect it. This key will prevent third parties from viewing your data. In some cases, hackers can impersonate authorized users to obtain access. Authenticating the encryption key helps protect it from bad actors.
Types
of Encryption:
There are two types of encryption:
1. Symmetric Encryption: Symmetric Encryption is an algorithm for cryptography that uses the same cryptographic key for both the plaintext's encryption and the ciphertext's decryption. The keys may be similar, or there may be a slight variation between the two keys.
● The
Blowfish
● DES
(Data Encryption Standard)
● AES
(Advanced Encryption Standard)
● RC4
(Rivest Cipher4)
● RC5
(Rivest Cipher5)
● RC6 (Rivest Cipher6)
2. Asymmetric Encryption: Unlike symmetric encryption, an asymmetric cryptographic system uses pairs of keys. Each pair is a combination of one public key and one private key. These key pairs are generated via cryptographic algorithms based on one-way mathematical functions.
Examples of Asymmetric Encryption:
Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA)
Digital Signature Standard (DSS)
Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA)
Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC)
Keys:
Public Key: The public key is used to encrypt data, The public key is free to use.
Private Key: We can encrypt and decrypt the data with the private key, but both the encryption and decryption private keys must be the same. Unlike public keys, the private key must be kept secret.
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