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CS Encryption Methods

Encryption is a method of scrambling data to protect it from unauthorized access, transforming plain text into cypher text. There are two main types of encryption: symmetric, which uses the same key for both encryption and decryption, and asymmetric, which employs a pair of keys (public and private) for secure communication. Asymmetric encryption is generally considered more secure than symmetric encryption due to its use of separate keys.

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2 views

CS Encryption Methods

Encryption is a method of scrambling data to protect it from unauthorized access, transforming plain text into cypher text. There are two main types of encryption: symmetric, which uses the same key for both encryption and decryption, and asymmetric, which employs a pair of keys (public and private) for secure communication. Asymmetric encryption is generally considered more secure than symmetric encryption due to its use of separate keys.

Uploaded by

leeheejin912
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Computer Science

Data transmission
(Encryption)
What is encryption?
Encryption is the technique of scrambling data to make it
unreadable to the person who doesn’t know how to unscramble
it.
✓An encryption is used to encode the data and render it
meaningless to someone without the same algorithm, or key,
to decrypt the data.
✓Encryption is an essential concept of data security in that it
gives a sense of security that if a hacker intercepts data, it
won’t be readable to them.
Encryption

Text that is not encrypted is known as plain text, while text that has been encrypted is known
as cypher text
.

Example of Basic encryption.


One of the earliest encryption methods is one devised by the Roman general, Julius
Caesar, who used the method to encode military messages.
✓The method was consequently named after him as the Caesar cypher
✓ A Caesar cipher works by taking the message to be encoded and manipulating it by
shifting each letter in the message a given number of positions either to the left or to
the right. The table below shows an example of how the letters on the alphabet may
be shifted using a Caesar cipher.

Notice that A is shifted three places to the right and becomes D.


Similarly, B and C are moved three places to the right and become E and F, respectively.
Types of encryption

There are two types of encryption algorithms that can be used


during data transmission. These are:
• Symmetric encryption
• Asymmetric encryption

Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages.

Let’s look at each of the methods and how they work.


Symmetric encryption
Symmetric Encryption is a type of encryption where the key
used for encrypting a message is the same one used for
decrypting the message.

The sending computer must send both the encrypted message


and the key, but separately.
The receiving computer will then use the key it has received to
decrypt the message.

An excellent example of symmetric encryption is the Caesar


cipher, which you looked at in the previous session. In a
Caesar cipher, the key requires two pieces of information: the
number of places shifted and the direction of the shift.

Although symmetric encryption is a simple and


straightforward method of encryption, the problem is that if a
malicious user intercepts the key, they can read the message.
Asymmetric encryption was created to overcome this
limitation.
Asymmetric
encryption
In asymmetric encryption, two separate keys are
used. One key is used for encryption and the other
key is used for decryption.

A key used to encrypt a message cannot be used to


decrypt the message. So each device sending or
receiving the message has two keys, a public key and
a private key .

The public key, as the name suggests, is visible to all


the computers that want to exchange an encrypted
message. On the other hand, the private key is known
only to the computer where it resides.
The advantage of asymmetric encryption is that it is
much more reliable compared to symmetric
encryption.

The person or device sending the message uses the


recipient’s public key to encrypt the message, but
the person decrypting the message is the only one
with the correct key to decrypt the message.
A message cannot be encrypted by two devices
attempting to share the same key.
The receiver’s private key is related to their public
key, but that relationship is mathematical
and indecipherable without the keys themselves.
Differences between Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryptions

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