Encryption

ABSTRACT

In this study we try to explore the concept of Encryption in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on Encryption and its relation with Cryptographic Algorithms. The research also analyzes many aspects of security and tries to gauge its effect on Encryption. Finally, the research describes various factors which are responsible for securitry networks and tries to describe the overall effect of encryption on security networks.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACTii

Part 1: Types of Cryptographic Algorithms1

Secret Key Cryptography2

Public-Key Cryptography2

Hash Functions3

Part 2: Digital certificates can be used to secure network3

Part 3: Five Steps to Protect Customer Privacy4

Step 1: Assess Your Institution's Ability to Protect4

Customer Information4

Complete a Risk Assessment4

Step 2: Document the Information Security Program5

Step 3: Involve the Board of Directors5

Step 4: Implement the Program6

Step 5: Test and Revise Your Program7

Part 4: comparing two methods to secure email messages8

Part 5: Different 802.11 Standards and recommendation for small business9

Part 6: the functions of a firewall10

Part 7: Compare the various wireless encryption standards11

Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryptions11

References13

Encryption

Part 1: Types of Cryptographic Algorithms

There are several ways of classifying cryptographic algorithms. For purposes of this paper, they will be categorized based on the number of keys that are employed for encryption and decryption, and further defined by their application and use. The three types of algorithms that will be discussed are (Figure 1):

Secret Key Cryptography (SKC): Uses a single key for both encryption and decryption

Public Key Cryptography (PKC): Uses one key for encryption and another for decryption

Hash Functions: Uses a mathematical transformation to irreversibly "encrypt" information (Gope & Singh, 2011)

Figure 1: Three types of cryptography: secret-key, public key, and hash function.

Secret Key Cryptography

With secret key cryptography, a single key is used for both encryption and decryption. As shown in Figure 1A, the sender uses the key (or some set of rules) to encrypt the plaintext and sends the ciphertext to the receiver. The receiver applies the same key (or ruleset) to decrypt the message and recover the plaintext. Because a single key is used for both functions, secret key cryptography is also called symmetric encryption. With this form of cryptography, it is obvious that the key must be known to both the sender and the receiver; that, in fact, is the secret. The biggest difficulty with this approach, of course, is the distribution of the key.

Public-Key Cryptography

Public-key cryptography has been said to be the most significant new development in cryptography in the last 300-400 years. Modern PKC was first described publicly by Stanford University professor Martin Hellman and graduate student Whitfield Diffie in 1976. Their paper described a two-key crypto system in which two parties could engage in a secure communication over a non-secure communications channel without having to share a secret key.

PKC depends upon the existence of so-called one-way functions, or mathematical functions that are easy to computer whereas their inverse function is relatively difficult to compute. Let me give you two simple examples (Gope & Singh, 2011):

Multiplication vs. factorization: Suppose I tell you that I have two numbers, 9 and 16, and that I want to calculate the product; it ...