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The two primary types of encryption are symmetric and asymmetric key encryption.
Symmetric Key Encryption – It means both sender and receiver use the same secret key to encrypt and decrypt the data. A secret key, which can be a number, a word, or just a string of random letters, is applied to the text of a message to change the content in a particular way. This might be as simple as shifting each letter by a number of places in the alphabet.
As long as both sender and recipient know the secret key, they can encrypt and decrypt all messages that use this key. The drawback to symmetric key encryption is there is no secure way to share the key between multiple systems. Systems that use symmetric key encryption need to use an offline method to transfer the keys from one system to another. This is not practical in a large environment such as the Internet, where the clients and servers are not located in the same physical place. The strength of symmetric key encryption is fast, bulk encryption. Weaknesses of symmetric key encryption are key distribution, scalability, limited security (confidentiality only) and The fact that it does not provide non-repudiation, meaning the sender’s identity can be proven.
Examples of symmetric algorithms are DES (data encryption standard), 3DES, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), IDEA (International Data Encryption Algorithm), Twofish, RC4 (Rivest Cipher 4)
Asymmetric (or public) key cryptography – It was created to address the weaknesses of symmetric key management and distribution. But there’s a problem with secret keys: how can they be exchanged securely over an inherently insecure network such as the Internet?
Anyone who knows the secret key can decrypt the message, so it is important to keep the secret key secure. Asymmetric encryption uses two related keys known as a key pair. A public key is made available to anyone who might want to send you an encrypted message. A second, private key is kept secret, so that only you know it. Any messages (text, binary files, or documents) that are encrypted by using the public key can only be decrypted by using the matching private key. Any message that is encrypted by using the private key can only be decrypted by using the matching public key. This means that you do not have to worry about passing public keys over the Internet as they are by nature available to anyone. A problem with asymmetric encryption, however, is that it is slower than symmetric encryption. It requires far more processing power to both encrypt and decrypt the content of the message.
The relationship between the two keys in asymmetric key encryption is based on complex mathematical formulas. One method of creating the key pair is to use factorization of prime numbers. Another is to use discrete logarithms. Asymmetric encryption systems are based on one-way functions that act as a trapdoor. Essentially the encryption is one-way in that the same key cannot decrypt messages it encrypted. The associated private key provides information to make decryption feasible. The information about the function is included in the public key, whereas information about the trapdoor is in the private key.
Anyone who has the private key knows the trapdoor function and can compute the public key. To use asymmetric encryption, there needs to be a method for transferring public keys. The typical technique is to use X.509 digital certificates (also known simply as certificates). A certificate is a file of information that identifies a user or a server, and contains the organization name, the organization that issued the certificate, and the user’s email address, country, and public key.
When a server and a client require a secure encrypted communication, they send a query over the network to the other party, which sends back a copy of the certificate. The other party’s public key can be extracted from the certificate. A certificate can also be used to uniquely identify the holder. Asymmetric encryption can be used for Data encryption and Digital signatures
Asymmetric encryption can provide Confidentiality, Authentication and Non-repudiation. Strengths of asymmetric key encryption include Key distribution, Scalability and confidentiality, authentication, and non-repudiation. The weakness of asymmetric key encryption is that the process is slow and typically requires a significantly longer key. It’s only suitable for small amounts of data due to its slow operation.
