What is Cryptography?
Cryptography is a method of securing data and communication through encrypted codes to allow only the sender and the intended recipient to view/ decrypt the context of the message sent. This method is usually adopted when dealing with sensitive communication, or confidential data exchange like financial transactions. Cryptography is the science of securing data and is associated with these important objectives- confidentiality, authentication, integrity, and control over the participants.
Types of Cryptography:
Cryptography is categorized into three types according to the number of keys used for encryption and decryption.
- Symmetric encryption: The symmetric encryption is also known as secret-key cryptography. Both the sender and the receiver use the same key for encryption and decryption. The sender uses a key to encrypt the plaintext message and send the resultant cipher text to the recipient, who uses the same key to decrypt the cipher text to plain text.
- Asymmetric encryption: The asymmetric encryption is also known as the public key cryptography. A method where pair of keys are used comprising a public key available to anyone and a private key held only by the key owner.
- Hash Function: A hash function is an algorithm that accepts a variable-length block of data as input and produces a fixed size hash value. The principle of a hash value is data integrity. Hash functions are often used to determine whether data has changed.
Common types of code breaking techniques:
1. Brute Force: Cryptography keys are discovered by trying every possible combination.
2. Chosen Ciphertext: Decrypt known ciphertext to discover key.
3. Dictionary attack: Find plaintext based on common words.
4. Frequency Analysis: The study of the frequencies of letters or groups of letters in a ciphertext.
5. Trickery and Deceit: Involves the use of social engineering techniques to extract cryptography keys.
Conclusion:
Cryptography is the science of using mathematical algorithms to encrypt and decrypt data. Cryptography enables you to store sensitive information or transmit it across insecure networks (like the Internet) so that it cannot be read by anyone except the intended recipient.