Encryption
Two Types of Key Based Encryption:
1. Symmetric Encryption: Same key is used to encrypt and decrypt data.
2. Asymmetric Encryption: Two keys, Public and Private are used for encrypting and decrypt data
respectively
1. Symmetric Encryption
Application of Symmetric Key Encryption
• Banking applications to authenticate ID and transactions
• Server/Data Center information can be encrypted at rest.
• HTTPS encryption with secure all-around browsing
Consider a simple system which uses 10-denary-digit encryption (which gives about 10 billion
possibilities). Suppose our secret key is 4 2 9 1 3 6 2 8 5 6, which means each letter in a word is shifted
across the alphabet +4, +2, +9, and so on, places.
For example, here is the message, ‘computer science is exciting’ before and after the 10-denary-digit
secret key is applied:
However, modern computers could ‘crack’ this key (and, therefore, decrypt the message) in a few
seconds. To combat this, we use 256-bit encryption (in other words, a 256-bit key) which gives 2256
possible combinations. Even this may not be enough, as computers become more powerful.
One issue with symmetric encryption is that both sender and recipient need to use the same secret key.
This is a security risk here since the sender must supply the key to the recipient. This key could be
intercepted. This is referred to as the key distribution problem.
So, how can both sender and receiver have the required secret key without sending it electronically?
The following routine shows one possibility.
Both sender and recipient end up with the same encryption and decryption key of 9. This is
oversimplified; in practice, computers would generate much larger keys (possibly 256 bits – equivalent
to 64 (256/4 bit = 64 BCD) denary digits if using BCD).
There are many other ways to keep the encryption key secret. But the issue of security is always the
main drawback of symmetrical encryption since a single key is required for both sender and recipient.
Asymmetric encryption
Asymmetric encryption uses two keys – a public key, available to all users, and a private key, known to a
specific person or computer.
Two different keys that are mathematically related to each other.
Anything that adds up 26 would work so we could have also used it in encryption.
Such as, 5 and 21, 6 or 20, 10 and 16 and so on.
So, one key (Public key) Encrypts and only the other key (Private key) can decrypt. It means we can use
either one to encrypt and decrypt. Just make sure that the pair is rightly chosen.
How Asymmetric encryption is implemented?
Suppose Tom and Meera work for the same company. Tom wishes to send a confidential document to
Meera. Here’s how he could do it.
Step 1: Tom and Meera both use an algorithm to generate their own matching pairs of keys (private and
public) which they keep stored on their computers. The matching pairs of keys are mathematically
linked but cannot be derived from each other.
Step 2:
Tom Meera sends Tom her Public Key Meera
▦private key ▦public key
▦public key ▧private key
Step 3: Tom now uses Meera’s public key (▦) to encrypt the document he wishes to send to her. He
then sends his encrypted document (ciphertext) to Meera.
Step 4: Meera uses her matching private key (▧) to unlock Tom’s document and decrypt it. This works
because the public key used to encrypt the document and the private key used to decrypt it are a
matching pair generated on Meera’s computer.
Meera can exchange her public key with any number of people working in the company, so she is able to
receive encrypted messages (which have been encrypted using her public key) and she can then decrypt
them using her matching private key:
If a two-way communication is required between all five workers, then they all need to generate their
own matching public and private keys. Once this is done, all users then need to swap public keys so that
they can send encrypted documents, files or messages between each other. Each worker will then use
their own private key to decrypt information being sent to them.
However, there are still issues. For example, how can Meera be certain that the document came from
Tom, and that it has not been tampered with during transmission?
The example used here required Meera to send her public key to each of the workers, and she used her
private key to decrypt their messages.
However, the two keys can be reversed – the other workers can encrypt messages using their own
private keys and then send these encrypted messages to other workers in the company, who use their
matching public key to decrypt the messages. While this would be a bad idea if the messages were
confidential, it could be used as a way of identifying or verifying who the sender of the message was (in
other words, the private key would act like a digital signature, identifying the sender, since the private
keys will be unique to the sender).
Digital signatures are a way of validating the authenticity of digital documents and identifying the
sender (signing with a digital signature indicates that the original message, document or file is safe and
has not been tampered with).
There are four main purposes of digital signatures:
• authentication,
• non-repudiation,
• data integrity and
• confidentiality.
A digital signature is a digital code which is often derived from the digital certificate.
