Nowadays the security when browsing the net, is one of the most important elements. Since, more and more hackers or cybercriminals make use of endless tricks to obtain sensitive information from users and with this, fulfill their duties without prior consent.
As a consequence, despite the fact that it is practically impossible to keep 100% of your privacy under control when accessing the Internet, there is the possibility of encrypting your data in order to protect your activity, the information you exchange and everything you publish. Nevertheless, many are unaware of this concept.
Therefore, it is very significant to know what is it about encrypting or encrypting datafrom a computer point of view. Like, differentiate all the types of data encryption there are, in order to know which one is best to use. Therefore, through this post, we want to explain what encryption of information on the Internet consists of and how it works.
What is encrypting or encrypting data in computing?
At the computer level, consists of executing an algorithm applied to one or several passwords, in order to transform the information in question into a meaningless string of letters, numbers and symbols. Therefore, it is a procedure that causes unreadable data of any file and, consequently, it becomes useless for an unauthorized user trying to enter it.
In such a way, encrypting information means hiding the content of a message in plain sight. This, with the aim that a specific interaction is needed to be able to reveal said content. Taking into account that they can be data, files, messages or any type of information that is handled on the Internet and/or is sent by means of a device to the network.
Thus, data encryption is classified as an optimal security system which, normally, is used to protect important information that can be saved or sent through the Internet for any procedure. Reason why, It is also capable of protecting personal data or credit card numbers. However, since it is the most special way there is to prevent a third party from reading the information of a computer system for malicious purposes or managing to steal it.
It is considered an essential security method for both individual users and corporations.. Since, in any case, it is relevant guarantee the inviolability of personal or private information sent between servers and web browsers. Thanks to all these particularities, cryptography or data encryption in computing provides notable advantages that are worth taking into account.
Therefore, below, we mention the most transcendental of all:
- Protects Privacy of users on the network.
- Allows you to get much more secure and guarantees the confidentiality of messages.
- Avoid cyber attackssuch as: identity theft, bank fraud, kidnapping or loss of devices with sensitive information, etc.
What are the different types of data encryption and how do you know which one to use?
While it is true, There are different types of encryption on the Internet. But, although they are a system widely used by the applications that are used regularly today, users often do not know what they are and do not always understand how they work. Consequently, it is relevant know what classes of encryption or data encryption are currently handled and, according to his features or benefitsdiscern which one has to be used when browsing the net or for this type of use.
Thus, here we proceed to present said information of interest classified as follows:
According to your keys
Mainly, the types of data encryption are classified depending on their keys and the tasks to be fulfilledthat is, in cryptography symmetric and cryptography asymmetric.
Next, we explain what they consist of:
symmetric encryption
Basically, it is a security system that uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt the message; which, will have to know both the sender and the receiver, previously. Thus, a clear example of a symmetric key It’s the Enigma machine of the German army. in which there were new key configurations for each day.
Therefore, symmetric encryption emphasizes that not all encryptions have to be done by means of a computer program. That is to say, each user can create a code for himself. Either, using the following foundation “a=1, b=2, z=3” to replace the letters and numbers with their encoded counterpart so, get original encryption.
asymmetric encryption
It is estimated as an easy and safe way that, generally, It is used to encrypt the data that you will receive. Reason why, it is done electronically and is based on the use of two keys, unlike symmetric encryption.
These keys are:
- public key that can be disseminated to all the people who wish to send you any type of information in an encrypted manner.
- the private key which, as its name implies, should not be revealed to anyone. Thus, it is a password that only one person will handle.
As a result, even if any user manages to encrypt the data with the public key, can only be read by the one who has the private key. This means that the receiving party will be the only one with access to the decryption key that allows them to see and read the messages. Also, complex algorithms are used to generate both keys and thanks to that, are highly resistant to attacks by cybercriminals.
Comparison
FEATURES
SYMMETRIC ENCRYPTION
ASYMMETRICAL ENCRYPTION
number of keys
As users increase, will increase the number of keys. only required one key pair per user so that everyone can encrypt messages for everyone else.
Speed
It is very fast and agile. Therefore, it allows you to encrypt large amounts of data and simultaneously save time. It is much slower and, therefore, it is not the best option if optimal performance is required.
Security
In fact, It is unsafe because the fact of communicating the key provides vulnerability.
Safer than symmetricbecause it has the freedom to issue public keys, while the private one remains with the user.
In short, if the most important factor does not lie in speed or performance, It is recommended to use asymmetric encryption for its excellent contributions to the user. But, if you only care about encrypting a lot of data in a short time, it will be advisable to use symmetric encryption.
according to their algorithms
Another classification of data encryption typesdepends on the way in which the encryption or decryption algorithms.
As in the previous case, there are two classes and they are:
block cipher
As its name indicates, It is an encryption that is done block by block.. For this, first of all, the message must be decomposed into sets that have the same length. Then, each block in question will have to be transformed into a block of the encrypted message through a sequence of operations.
In general, to get each encrypted message, the operations performed are substitution and permutation of elements. It should be noted that block encryption also can be subdivided into symmetric key and asymmetric key. However, in most cases, only symmetric key algorithms exist for this kind of encryption system.
stream encryption
It is a type of encryption is done bit by bit and is based on the use of very long keys, which are used to encrypt and decrypt the data in question. These passwords can be created through a pseudorandom key generator or RKG which composes a pseudorandom binary sequence using an initialization key K.
Also, they can also be default keys for one-time passbooks. On the other hand, it should be noted that, in stream encryption, it is necessary to keep secret the encryptor as well as the password to use.
According to its properties
Apart from the two classifications previously exposed, it is also possible to group or distinguish some encryption types around their properties or characteristics fundamental.
Next, we mention the most recognized:
Identity-based encryption
Also know as “IBC”, this consists of a type of cryptography that is characterized by the use of user identity attributes or identifying character strings. Whether they are phone numbers, domain names, IP addresses, email addresses, etc..
Then, by means of said identifying strings, it is possible to encrypt and verify signatures without the need to use PKI digital certificates. In this way, the messages can be protected by the users themselves, before they interact with any entity. It should be noted that most identity-based schemes that they are truly efficientare based on mathematical functions also called “bilinear non-degenerative maps”.
Isolated Key Encryption
It refers to a security system whose main objective is to minimize the damage generated after an attack that has compromised the private key of a cryptographic method. To do this, it will start by dividing time into periods and the secret keys will be stored in a possibly insecure, but will be updated for each period.
On the other hand, to update the keys, an interaction is carried out with a physically protected device that will maintain a fixed master secret password between each period. Also, all calculations are performed on the insecure system and the public key shall be established for all phases in question. Thus, although it will remain exposed, the security of the system will remain if the current key has not been decrypted and The more frequently the password is changed, the more secure the system will be..
Secure forward encryption
It is an encryption system that has as its fundamental idea, have a static public key that does not change and also have a procedure that changes the secret key, by itself, every time a certain period of time ends.
In this way, you can ensure that messages that use old secret passwords they will stay safe, even though the security of the current key has been breached. On the other hand, regarding the process of calculating the secret key, We note that it should only be in one direction. Since, it will be easier to calculate or swap the next key from the previous one. Hence, the fact that the preliminary keys are not broken, even if the current secret key is discovered.
deniable encryption
This is a type of encryption that allows you to convincingly deny that all data is encrypted or that you have the ability to decrypt it. Thus, even though the denial is false, it cannot be verified by the attacker or hacker without the consent of the…
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