Nowadays the security when surfing 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 to encrypt your data in order to protect your activity, the information you exchange and everything you publish. But nevertheless, many are unaware of this concept.
Therefore, it is very significant to know what is encrypting or encrypting data about, from the computer point of view. Like, differentiate all the types of data encryption out there, in order to know which one is better to use. Therefore, through this post, we want to explain what the encryption of information on the Internet consists of and how it works.
What is encrypt or encrypt data in computing?
At the computer level, encrypt or encrypt data consists of executing an algorithm applied to one or more 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 data illegibility of any file and, consequently, it becomes unusable for an unauthorized user to want to enter it.
In such a way, encrypting information means hiding the content of a message in plain sight. This, with the objective that a specific interaction is necessary to be able to reveal said content. Taking into account that, it can be data, files, messages or any type of information that is handled on the Internet and / or is sent through a device to the network.
Thus, data encryption is cataloged 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 safeguarding personal data or credit card numbers. Now, 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 from stealing 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 peculiarities, 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.
- Lets get communications a lot more secure and guarantees the confidentiality of the messages.
- Avoid cyber attacks, such 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 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 kinds of encryption or data encryption are currently used and, according to their features or benefits, discern which one has to be used when surfing the net or for this type of use.
Thus, here we proceed to present you with 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 accomplished, that is, in cryptography symmetrical and crypto asymmetric.
Next, we explain what they consist of:
Symmetric encryption
Basically, it is a security system that use the same key to encrypt and decrypt the message; which, will have to know both the sender and the receiver, previously. In this way, a clear example of a symmetric key It is the Enigma machine of the German army in which there were new key settings for each day.
Therefore, symmetric encryption emphasizes that not all encryptions have to be done by means of a computer program. In other words, each user can create a code for himself. Either, using the following rationale “A = 1, b = 2, z = 3” to replace letters and numbers with their coded counterparts so, get original encryption.
Asymmetric encryption
It is considered an easy and safe way that, generally, it is used to encrypt the data you will receive. Reason why, it is done electronically and is based on the use of two keys, unlike symmetric encryption.
These keys are:
- The public key that can be disseminated to all people who wish to send you any type of information in an encrypted way.
- The private key which, as its name implies, should not be disclosed to anyone. Thus, it is a password that only one person will handle.
Thanks to this, even if any user can 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 that has access to the decryption key that allows viewing and reading the messages. In addition, complex algorithms are used to generate both keys and thanks to that, are highly resistant to attacks by cybercriminals.
Comparison
Ultimately, if the most important factor is not speed or performance, asymmetric encryption is recommended for its excellent user input. But, if you only care to encrypt a lot of data in a short time, it will be advisable to use symmetric encryption.
According to their algorithms
Another classification of types of data encryption, depends on the way in which the encryption or decryption algorithms.
As in the previous case, there are two classes and they are:
Block encryption
As its name implies, 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. Afterwards, 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 message encrypted, the operations performed are the 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.
Encryption in Stream
It is a type of encryption that it 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 pseudo-random key generator or RKG which composes a pseudo-random binary sequence using an initialization key K.
Further, can also be default passwords for single-use notebooks. On the other hand, it should be noted that, in stream encryption, it is necessary keep the encryptor as well as the password to use secret.
According to its properties
Apart from the two classifications previously exposed, some can also be grouped or distinguished types of encryption 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 phone numbers, domain names, IP addresses, email addresses, etc..
Then, by means of these identification chains, it is possible encrypt and verify signatures without using 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 efficient, are based on mathematical functions also called “Bilinear nondegenerative maps”.
Isolated key encryption
It refers to a security system whose main objective is, minimize the damage generated after an attack that has compromised the private key of a cryptographic method. To do this, you will start by dividing the time into periods and the secret keys will be stored in a possibly insecure way, but will be updated for each period.
For its part, to update the keys, an interaction is carried out with a physically protected device that keep a fixed master secret password between each period. Also, all calculations are performed in the insecure system and the public key will 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.
Secure forward encryption
It is an encryption system whose fundamental idea is, have a static public key that remains unchanged and also have a procedure that changes the secret key, by itself, every time a certain period of time expires.
In this way, you can ensure that messages using old secret passwords will stay safe, even though the security of the current key has been violated. For its part, with respect to the process of calculating the secret key, We limit that it should only be in one direction. Since, it will be easier to calculate or permute 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 user’s consent and, therefore, you will not dare to decipher the information in question surely.
In this sense, deniable encryption allows users to decrypt the encrypted text and generate a different plain text that does the decoy function, If necessary. Therefore, even when the cybercriminal has the necessary conditions to force the production of a simple text, he will not be able to reveal any difference between the true and the alternative. Thus, It is a technique that serves to undermine the confidence of the perpetrator and sow doubts in him so that he does not commit the attack.