Encryption
Encryption is the process of converting data into a code to prevent unauthorized access. It is commonly used to secure sensitive information during transmission or storage. Encryption algorithms use mathematical functions to scramble the data, and only those with the correct decryption key can access the original information.
8 Key excerpts on "Encryption"
eBook - ePubSurviving Security
How to Integrate People, Process, and Technology
- Amanda Andress(Author)
- 2003(Publication Date)
- Auerbach Publications(Publisher)
...4 CRYPTOGRAPHY AND Encryption Encryption is the process of scrambling data (or plain text) into an unreadable form (or cipher text). This scrambling process is based on algorithms that use various forms of substitution or transposition to encrypt the message. Algorithms are mathematical constructs that are applied through various applications to secure data transmissions or storage. Decryption is the process of using the same algorithm to restore the information to readable form. Encryption can be used at all levels of a security infrastructure. You can use Encryption to protect network communications over the Internet or to help secure an intranet, e-mail, database entries, and files on a workstation or file server. Encryption can provide confidentiality, authentication, integrity, and non-repudiation for data traveling over a network or stored on a system. Protecting the confidentiality of data means ensuring that only the appropriate people have the ability to see the data. This is usually accomplished by encrypting the data so that it is readable only by the intended recipients. Authentication is the process of proving that you are who you say you are and establishing proof of identity. Authentication can be achieved through the use of passwords, smart cards, biometrics, or a combination thereof. Referring to data integrity means that the data has not been modified in any way, whether in transit or in storage. Message digests, or hashes, are often used to check data integrity. You will learn more about them later in this chapter. An individual can repudiate, or deny participation in, a transaction. If a customer places an order and a non-repudiation security service has not been built in to the system, the customer could deny ever making that purchase...
eBook - ePub- João Manuel R.S. Tavares, Brojo Kishore Mishra, Raghvendra Kumar, Noor Zaman, Manju Khari, João Manuel R.S. Tavares, Brojo Kishore Mishra, Raghvendra Kumar, Noor Zaman, Manju Khari(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Auerbach Publications(Publisher)
...Hashing is used to provide data integrity by checking the values (William, 2011). 2.2.1 Symmetric Key Cipher Model Previously, cryptographic systems were also referred to as ciphers. A cipher is simply defined as the steps of an algorithm for carrying out both Encryption and the resultant decryption operation. The five ingredients of conventional Encryption algorithms or symmetric Encryption are plaintext, ciphertext, secret key, Encryption algorithm, and decryption algorithm (Figure 2.10). Plaintext: It is the actual understandable data or information that is taken as an input to the Encryption algorithm. Ciphertext: It is the twisted or perverted message generated as an output to the Encryption algorithm and also used as an input to the decryption algorithm to regenerate the actual plaintext. So, the ciphertext completely depends on the secret key and plaintext. For a single message, if two different keys are given, then it results in two different ciphertext. It is a random stream of data that is unintelligible (Bali, 2014). Figure 2.10 A simplified model of a symmetric key cipher. Encryption algorithm: It is used to create the ciphertext from the plaintext by using various operations. It takes plaintext and secret key as inputs and generates ciphertext as an output (Yegireddi and Kumar, 2016). Decryption algorithm: The opposite process of the Encryption algorithm is known as the decryption algorithm. In this algorithm, the ciphertext and secret key are used as inputs to produce the actual plaintext. Secret key: It is taken as an input to the Encryption algorithm. The key does not depend on the Encryption algorithm and plaintext (Nadeem and Javed, 2005)...
eBook - ePubBitcoin for Nonmathematicians:
Exploring the Foundations of Crypto Payments
- Slava Gomzin(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Brown Walker Press (FL)(Publisher)
...Chapter 5 Types of Encryption If you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself. —George Orwell From the name of the classification where bitcoin belongs—cryptocurrency—it is already clear that “crypto” is the most important component of bitcoin. But what does this mean exactly? Obviously, without an answer to this question, we will hardly be able to move on to other components of cryptocurrencies. Two of the three main areas of information security theory—confidentiality and integrity—are essential for cryptocurrency design. The third one—availability—is also consequential, though often forgotten. Availability à la bitcoin means that your money is never lost as long as you have access to your secret key—your bitcoin address. The beauty of bitcoin is that even though it is completely virtual and electronic currency, the address can be still stored on a small piece of paper. And like any conventional money, this piece of paper can be stored offline—for example, in a bank deposit box, far away from Internet connections, which means out of reach of hackers. While maintaining confidentiality is important in order to preserve the ownership of the currency, supporting integrity is required for keeping transaction records intact. But both confidentiality and integrity intertwine when we talk about the ability to recognize the authenticity of payment transactions as well as preventing double-spending. All those existential preconditions of successful cryptocurrency design were made possible by using cryptography. Symmetric Encryption Cryptography, in its original definition, is the science of hiding information from the prying eyes of those who are not supposed to see the information: an enemy during a war, a business competitor, or even a jealous spouse. Cryptography is perhaps one of the oldest disciplines...
eBook - ePubElectronic Devices and Circuit Design
Challenges and Applications in the Internet of Things
- Suman Lata Tripathi, Smrity Dwivedi, Suman Lata Tripathi, Smrity Dwivedi(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Apple Academic Press(Publisher)
...Cryptography is one of the best methods for enhancing the security of communication channel in IoT device network. 4 The encoding of the input data or information in order to convert it to a scrambled (cipher) text is known as Encryption and it is associated with an Encryption key (sender) such that it can only be accessed by an authorized user. The decryption is the counter process of Encryption where the secret message (or ciphertext) is converted back to the unique plaintext using a decryption key (receiver). The basic model of cryptography includes the process how the input data is encrypted followed by the generation of ciphertext or secret text and finally the output data is obtained following the decryption process. 5 There are two types of keys (symmetric and asymmetric) used which are carried out by Encryption–decryption. 6 The symmetric-key/private-key algorithm is where only the communication parties must have the identical keys in order to facilitate the proper link between the devices. 5 In comparison to asymmetric-key algorithms, symmetric key algorithms are more secure and faster and require lesser power as compared to the former. The other type of key is the asymmetric key/public key where only the Encryption key is available to everyone to use but the decryption key is not and only the registered user (receiver) has the correct decryption key that allows the message to be read after decryption. 5 7.3.1 DIFFERENT CRYPTOGRAPHY ALGORITHMS 7.3.1.1 RIVEST–SHAMIR–ADLEMAN This algorithm is a symmetric (public) key algorithm for cryptography that provides excellent safety in the IoT and Message Queuing Telemetry Transport systems. 7, 8 A key generator is used by the RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman) algorithm that provides two numbers (primes) representing the two varieties of keys that are used in the Encryption–decryption process...
eBook - ePubImplementing Information Security in Healthcare
Building a Security Program
- Terrell Herzig, Tom Walsh(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- HIMSS Publishing(Publisher)
...C hapter 11 Use of Encryption By Brian Evans, CISSP, CISM, CISA, CGEIT The rise of malicious attacks from insiders and outsiders and the turn from nuisance hacking to profit-driven hacking has dramatically increased the likelihood of vulnerabilities being exploited in damaging ways, reducing the margin of error on technical controls. Failures of information security routinely make headlines and involve increasingly costly response efforts. As a result, information security is now a board-level concern, which has focused the interest in a variety of technical solutions. One technical solution has become a critical component to every healthcare organization—Encryption. According to the HIPAA Security Rule, “Encryption means the use of an algorithmic process to transform data into a form in which there is a low probability of assigning meaning without use of a confidential process or key.” 1 Encryption technologies are used to store and transfer data in a secure format, ensuring its protection against compromise or unauthorized access. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) references stored data or “data at rest” as data residing in databases, file systems, and other structured storage methods; and “data in motion” as data moving through a network, including wireless transmission. 2 While Encryption may not be suitable for every situation, healthcare organizations need to have a solid business case for not deploying them. HHS designated Encryption as an addressable implementation specification to provide additional flexibility in complying with security standards. Therefore, it is not a HIPAA requirement to encrypt electronic PHI (ePHI)...
eBook - ePubCritical Infrastructure Protection in Homeland Security
Defending a Networked Nation
- Ted G. Lewis(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
...Encryption converts plaintext words into ciphertext using a key and an encoding algorithm. The result is called a cipher. The reverse process—converting ciphertext into plaintext—is called decryption. The key is a special word that enables encoding. If the same key is used to encode and decode the secret message, we say the Encryption is symmetric. If a different key is used, we say the Encryption is asymmetric. Cryptography is the study of ciphers, keys, and Encryption algorithms. 9 TABLE 8.1 EXCLUSIVE‐OR logic: Only one of the two operands can be 1 in order to produce 1. Otherwise, EXCLUSIVE‐OR logic produces a 0 EXCLUSIVE‐OR B = 0 B = 1 A = 0 0 1 A = 1 1 0 During most of its history, cryptography did not change much. Find a way to translate plaintext into ciphertext and then transfer the ciphertext to a recipient, who reverses the process using the secret key. The cipher is symmetric, because both parties use the same key to encode and decode the secret message. Thus the key must be protected, because anyone with the key can unravel the cipher. Perhaps the best‐known symmetric cipher is the logical EXCLUSIVE‐OR cipher—widely known because of its simplicity. It performs the logical EXCLUSIVE‐OR operation on each bit of the binary representation of plaintext (see Table 8.1). It works bit by bit across the plaintext by taking one bit from the plaintext word, another bit from the key and writing the EXCLUSIVE‐OR as the ciphertext. To reverse the process, from ciphertext to plaintext, do the same thing over again: EXCLUSIVE‐OR, the key with the ciphertext. For example, suppose the shared secret key is 1101 and the sender wants to encrypt the plaintext 1001 and send it to the receiver, who also knows the key. Encoding is done by EXCLUSIVE‐ORing each bit of the message 1001 with the each corresponding bit in the key...
eBook - ePubSoftware Engineering for Embedded Systems
Methods, Practical Techniques, and Applications
- Robert Oshana, Mark Kraeling(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Newnes(Publisher)
...It comprises cryptography and cryptanalysis (Fig. 2). Fig. 2 What is Cryptology? 2.1 What Is Cryptography? Let’s consider the problem of two legitimate people, Alice and Bob, who want to communicate data secretly over a communication channel. This channel is deemed unsecure as any illegitimate user, say Eve (an eavesdropper), has access to the channel and can easily hamper confidentiality and data integrity (Fig. 3). Fig. 3 Unsecure channels. 2.1.1 How to Solve This Problem? Alice and Bob can encode/encrypt the data while sending and decode/decrypt the data upon receiving. This would block the illegitimate user Eve from decoding the data sent over the unsecure channel. This technique is called cryptography. Cryptography refers to communication techniques derived from mathematical concepts and a set of rule-based calculations, called algorithms, to transform messages in ways that are hard to decipher, for secure communication (Fig. 4). Fig. 4 Basic cryptography. In an ideal world, Alice and Bob should keep secret the algorithm/technique used to encrypt and decrypt the data, so that Eve can not decode it. Keeping the algorithm secret is neither sensible nor practical. Moreover, making the algorithm public hardens it by allowing cryptoanalysts to evaluate and challenge the algorithm. Using an algorithm which is publicly unannounced is never recommended (Fig. 5). Fig. 5 Weakness of basic cryptography without keys. However, now that the algorithm used to obfuscate the data is public, we need ways to prevent Eve from decrypting the message. The solution is that Alice and Bob should have a preshared secret which Eve is unaware of. This preshared secret is called the key to the algorithm. The security of this key is paramount (Fig. 6). Fig...
eBook - ePubCybercrime and Information Technology
Theory and Practice: The Computer Network Infostructure and Computer Security, Cybersecurity Laws, Internet of Things (IoT), and Mobile Devices
- Alex Alexandrou(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...For additional information on the OSI model and the application layer, see Chapter 5. Cybersecurity refers to protection from criminal activity facilitated by the Internet. It also relates to the protection of Internet-connected devices, computer programs, networks, and data from cybercriminals. In other words, cybersecurity protects physical security, which consists of sites, equipment, infrastructure, etc., and logical security, which consists of software safeguards such as user passwords, access, and authentication of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Additionally, cybersecurity includes neglected and non-intentional incidents that compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computing systems and data. Network security involves the use of countermeasures to protect the networking infrastructure, both software and hardware, from intruders. Information security, or InfoSec, refers to safeguarding data in storage, in transit, and while being used. According to 44 U.S.C. 3542—Definitions 13 13 United States Code, 2006 Edition, Supplement 5, Title 44—Public Printing and Documents. 44 U.S.C. 3542—Definitions. Retrieved from https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title44/USCODE-2011-title44-chap35-subchapIII-sec3542 (1) The term “information security” means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction to provide— (A) Integrity, which means guarding against improper information modification or destruction, and includes ensuring information nonrepudiation and authenticity. Integrity safeguards that data and systems are authentic, neither modified nor corrupted. (B) Confidentiality, which means preserving authorized restrictions on access and disclosure, including means for protecting personal privacy and proprietary information...
