With organisations needing data for various purposes, maintaining and setting a proper system or software for data protection have also become essential. The purposes can be business, social work programs, and so on, which are utilised to meet the demand and supply side of their purposes.
Here comes the concept of data encryption. We are all familiar with encrypted messaging in apps like WhatsApp, and privacy-related issues are always going on across all continents. And to discover more about such methods and learn in-depth about them, we have this article covered for you.
Table of Contents
What Is Data Encryption?
Data encryption involves the translation of data into a format such that only the intend persons who have a decryption key, also referred to as a secret key will be able to read it.
Secure data transfer is a paramount activity for PC users and business owners. Its significance can be felt when security breaches cost businesses millions of dollars when secure data transfer is overlooked.
Albeit you do not possess a lot in your personal or business account, securing the little you have is noteworthy.
Technology experts have unveiled numerous forms of securing data transfer, but data encryption is the commonest and easiest method that every PC user should be aware of and able to use. By encryption, the data is scrambled such that an unintended person cannot read it.
Before encryption, the data is referred to as plaintext while after encryption the data is termed as ciphertext.
Data encryption is purposely executed to secure confidential information during storage or when being transferred from one computer system to another.
The History Of Data Encryption
Today, new encryption algorithms have been developed to replace the out-of-date DES – data encryption standard – where the former plays a very significant role in securing information and computing systems. The modern encryption tools come with confidentiality properties such as data integrity, data authentication as well as non-cancellation features.
By authentication, the sender of the data is identified and verified; the integrity feature proves that the content of the information is not distorted while the non-cancellation property ensures that the person who sends the information cannot repudiate transferring it.
The earliest forms of data encryption were primitive; some involved changing letters in the sentence. This rendered the whole sentence absolutely unreadable and required a lot of time to figure out what the spewed characters meant.
With time, people discovered how to crack codes, and the encryption technique required more sophistication to ensure that the message was kept private.
Today, data encryption algorithms find extensive application in File Transfer Protocol (FTP) transfers and computer systems to offer protected transfers.
When the algorithms are used for transfers, the information is initially transformed into an unreadable ciphertext and sent in this format, upon which the receiver uses a secret key or a password to decode the ciphertext into its initial format.
In case an intruder accesses the file before reaching the final computer, they cannot read it as it is encrypted.
When it comes to technology-based business, data encryption is mainly used for internet networks, internet communication, backup, and archiving. Data encryption is highly important for businesses for various reasons such as:
Confidentiality:
Data encryption helps in preventing unauthorized access to information that is sensitive. It ensures that only authorized users will be able to view and access it.
Security:
Data encryption helps the business in protecting data from theft or hacking. It makes it more difficult for hackers or attackers to steal the data or information thereby ensuring data security.
Trust:
Data encryption demonstrates the commitment in order to protect sensitive information- this helps in building trust between organizations, partners, or even customers.
Privacy:
Data encryption ensures privacy by protecting personal information in various applications such as patient portals, banking apps and call center software. It helps the business by restricting access to information without permission.
Compliance:
Data encryption became a necessity for regulations such as HIPAA for health care or call center software for card payment data in many businesses and industries.
How To Encrypt And Decrypt Data?
Data encryption works by transforming plaintext into code that is unreadable by using encryption algorithms as well as keys.
The data that are encrypted are called cyphertext and this can only be decrypted and read by someone who possesses the correct decryption key. The following is the process of data encryption:
How Encryption Works – Image source: thesslstore
The initial step is to generate the unique key which will be used to encrypt as well as decrypt the data
The next step is to process the encryption data and encryption key by plain text data thus creating cyphertext
After creating the cyphertext, it should be stored or transmitted to any devices
The created cyphertext can be decrypted using an encryption algorithm and decryption key to convert it back to plain data.
What is Cryptography?
It’s a term derived from the Greek word “krypto”, which means hidden. If we expand it, we can call it hidden writing. Cryptography is the practice of creating, improving and using coded algorithms to keep unauthorised access away from a particular system. In other words, algorithms are constantly used to protect a system or database from hackers.
A key is used for converting the cipher text into a readable format, which is called the cryptographic key. If the end person doesn’t have this key, he/she cannot decrypt the data.
Julius Caesar’s contribution to cryptography during the 1st century B.C. is notable. The “Caeser Cipher”, his idea and contribution aimed to secure and keep his content hidden from the messengers that carried them.
Today, cryptography has advanced its functionalities with the prominence of encryption methods. Encryption has become a part of cryptography and satisfies the same ideas for why the latter was established in ancient times.
What Is a Key in Cryptography?
From the cryptographic key we mentioned in the last section, you may have got what it implies. Yet, there’s a small set of history and significance for how and why it was used, as well as how it influenced today’s cryptography, especially the encryption methods.
Managing the keys is considered a complex task that primarily aims to use encryption algorithms securely. It includes generating, exchanging, storing, using, destructing and replacing keys.
There’s a concept most hackers often use, known as brute force attack. As keys contain more bits, that’s above 128 bits if being more precise, it would take excessive time to decrypt too, more than one year. In ancient times, Julius Caesar had used a shifted Roman alphabet as a key, which was easier to decrypt even without the secret key.
If the case is extended to modern cryptography, keys are much more complex than they used to be. They contain bits typically around 128, 256 or 2,048, which can be a complex data set.
The algorithms use these bits to convert plain text into cipher text, and as bits go on and on, computing the result can become more complex and challenging.
Types of Data Encryption Algorithms in Cryptography
There are mainly two types of data encryption which is known as symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption.
Symmetric Encryption:
Symmetric encryption is also called shared-key encryption since it uses the same key for encryption and decryption. The key must be well protected and kept secret and should be shared by only the recipient and the sender.
The symmetric encryption method is also called “private key cryptography”. It can be used for data that is stored and decided to be leveraged in the future. This method is suited for sets containing larger amounts of data. Some of the methods that are symmetric can be as follows:-
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
Data Encryption Standard (DES)
Triple DES (TDES)
Twofish
Asymmetric Encryption:
Asymmetric Encryption is also called public-key encryption since it has two keys one for encryption of the data ( can be in public) and one for decryption of the data( must be kept private). This is mainly used for securing communication and for digital signatures.
Asymmetric differs from symmetric encryption. It is believed to be the newest method that eliminates the need to share private keys with receivers. Yet, they take longer to produce the results than the symmetric ones. Some of the methods included in asymmetric are:-
Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA)
Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC)
Comparison of Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption Algorithms
Both these methods go hand in hand and are used per the situations demanded. Symmetric encryption is suitable for securing databases from being stolen or hacked. This type of data is under protection until there’s a future action utilising it.
On the other hand, there can be situations where keeping the same key for encryption and decryption can harm the sole purpose of using data. Thus, a public key is used for encryption, but decryption can be done only if the sender and receiver ensure the recipient decrypts the data.
What Is Hashing?
Hashing is often misunderstood as an encryption method, which is not. It is a verification method used to check whether the information was tampered with. Once hashing is used along with encrypted data, it cannot be decrypted or reverted back to its original form. What it does with the data is that it converts the inputs, like files and messages, into a fixed length value irrespective of the files’ size. It then generates a unique signature also of a fixed length for a data set or message.
Common Data Encryption Algorithms in Cryptography
There are several data encryption algorithms available:
Data Encryption Standard(DES)
TripleDES
Twofish encryption algorithm
Blowfish encryption algorithm
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
IDEA encryption algorithm
MD5 encryption algorithm
HMAC encryption algorithm
RSA security
Data Encryption Standard(DES)
There was a golden period for the DES algorithm in cryptography. It was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST) in 1977 and was approved then as the federal encryption standard.
DES uses a 56-bit key, which remains the same for both encryption and decryption as it is symmetric. It can convert 64-bit plain text input into a block of 64-bit cipher text.
The process for DES has several steps, which are called the rounds. The rounds for encryption depend on the key size, as a 128-bit key may need 10 rounds, and a 192-bit key could require 12 rounds.
With the implementation of Triple DES and AES, DES lost its throne by 2002. The computers developed for a new age had better processing power, and they couldn’t catch up with the technological advancements that went further.
The major reason behind this was that the 56-bit key became too small compared to the ones then and today, and it wasn’t equipped to face the challenges of it.
Triple Data Encryption Standard (TripleDES)
This form of data encryption algorithm applies block cipher algorithms thrice to all the data blocks individually.
The magnitude of the key is enlarged to provide extra protection by increasing the encryption ability.
Every individual block constitutes of 64-bit data. In this encryption algorithm, three keys are used where each key constitutes of 56 bits.
A total of three key permutations are provided under this standard:
Option #1: the three keys are independent
Option #2: keys 1 and 2 are independent
Option #3: the three keys are similar
Most importantly, we call #3 triple DES whose key length consists of (3*56 bits = 168 bits) whereas key security consists of (2*56 bits = 112 bits).
The substantially longer key length of this type of encryption algorithms overpowers other encryption techniques.
Nevertheless, after the development of the advanced encryption standard (AES), TripleDES has been rendered old-fashioned.
Like the DES algorithm, Triple DES also have in its last path of existence. NIST has plans to disallow Triple DES from 2024 onwards. As TripleDES can allow data encryption thrice than its former version, it has established the reign and significance of the former DES algorithm in cryptography.
Developed in 1993, the Blowfish encryption algorithm is an alternative for Data Encryption Standard (DES).Before its creation, encryptions were performed by patents and intellectual properties of firms. The developer placed the protocol to the public to make it readily available for any interested user.
Compared to DES, it is substantially faster and offers better encryption security. It is an asymmetric type of encryption protocol: uses a single key for both encryption and decryption. Like Twofish, it is a block cipher and its block size is 64-bit and the key size lies anywhere between 32 – 448 bits. It features 18 subkeys, sixteen rounds and has four S-boxes. Its protection capability has been examined and proved.
Considering blowfish standard is regarded as a Feistel cipher, a single structure is used to encrypt and decrypt data provided that the reverse direction of the round keys is considered.
It is a significantly fast operation because it involves a relatively small number of rounds as well as its clarity of functionality.
Nevertheless, its key-scheduling consumes a lot of time, although it has an upper hand when it comes to protecting brute-force threats. Also, its 64-bit block length (size) is rather small making it endangered by birthday attacks compared to AES whose block size is 128 bits and above.
Twofish Encryption Algorithm
This form of the encryption algorithm is a symmetric key block cipher which is characterized by 128-bit block size and whose keys’ size can run up to 256 bits.
This protocol uses one key for encryption and decryption. It is a fast and flexible standard for eight-bit and thirty two-bit CPUs, and small smart cards.
The protocol works exemplarily in hardware and has numerous functionality commutations between the speed of encryption and the setup time making it distinctive amongst other protocols. The standard shares some features with its predecessor, Blowfish Encryption Algorithm and AES.
At one time, this encryption algorithm was a real contestant for the best encryption standard, but the present AES beat it out. This algorithm bears several peculiar characteristics that distinguish it from other standards.
First, this cryptographic protocol applies substitution-boxes, S-boxes that are pre-computed and key-reliant. This implies that despite the provision of the S-box, it relies on the cipher key for the decryption of the encrypted data. The significance of the S-box is to conceal the key connection with the ciphertext.
Secondly, the Twofish encryption standard is accepted as a substantially secure alternative. Encryption protocols whose keys have 128 bits and above are regarded as safe from attacks: Twofish has a block size of 128 bits.
Twofish protocol comes with several options. To execute fast encryption, the key setup time can be made longer; this is done when the amount of data (plaintext) to be encrypted is relatively large.
The encryption can be made slower by setting a shorter key setup time when short blocks with constantly alternating keys are to be encrypted.
For some PC users, Twofish is regarded as the best AES protocol due to its peculiar amalgamation of design, resilience, and speed.
AES is the most popular and broadly used symmetric encryption standard today. Due to the DES’s small key size and low computing capability, a replacement was required which led to the development of AES. Compared with TripleDES, it has been proved to be more than six times faster.
Concerning cybersecurity, the AES acronym, in particular, keeps popping up on all computer screens as it is the world’s most accepted encryption standard.It is seen while using messaging applications such as Signal and Whatsapp, computer platforms such as VeraCrypt and other technologies commonly used.
The AES standard constitutes 3 block ciphers where each block cipher uses cryptographic keys to perform data encryption and decryption in a 128-bit block.
A single key is used for encryption and decryption thus both the sender and receiver have the same key. The sizes of the keys are considered adequate to secure the classified data to a satisfactory secret level.
The international data encryption algorithm abbreviated as IDEA is a symmetric block cipher data encryption protocol.
The key size of the block cipher is 128 bits and is regarded as a substantially secure and one of the best public standards.
Of the numerous years, this protocol has been in the market, there is no single attack that has been published in spite of the numerous trials to identify them.
The standard was patent in the US and Europe. It is used for non-commercial purposes while commercial authentication can be accessed from Ascom-Tech.
Typically, the block cipher runs in round blocks. It applies fifty-two subkeys where each has a 16-bit length.
Two subkeys are applied for a single round, four subkeys are applied prior to and after every round.
Typically, both the plain text and the ciphertext have equal sizes of 16 bytes.
This protocol was purposely developed to offer data security as it can take inputs of arbitrary size to generate a 128-bit hash value output.
Under this protocol, the encryption technique follows 5 phases where every phase features a predefined task.
The five steps include:
append padding (adding additional bits to the input) bits
append the length
initializing MD buffer
message processing
output
One notable advantage of MD5 is that the protocol allows the generation of a message digest using the initial message.
Nevertheless, the protocol is relatively slow.
HMAC Encryption Algorithm
HMAC stands for hash message authentication code and it is applied to ascertain the message integrity and authenticity.
The protocol applies 2 hash computation passes and a cryptographic key.
This standard resembles most digital signatures only that symmetric keys are used in HMAC whereas asymmetric types of keys are used in digital signatures.
RSA Security
This standard offers protection against cyber-attacks by detecting and responding to threats, preventing online fraud, management identification, et al.
The contribution of the RSA algorithm in cryptography is notable. As an asymmetric encryption algorithm in cryptography, RSA applies the idea of both public and private keys, and it generates these keys simultaneously.
When the computer is running on a secure website, the protocol generates a public key that is available publicly for data encryption.
On the other hand, the encrypted text is decrypted using the private key. Sender identification is done with the aid of the public key.
The RSA algorithm in cryptography has also been another turning point, and it has used prime numbers for its key generation. Developed by Ran Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman in 1977, it aimed to transmit data securely over an unsecured network, enabling communications and secure key exchange. Its application is used to generate digital certificates.
Future of Cryptography
The future of cryptography promises several algorithms in development; among them that have grabbed its attention are elliptical curve cryptography(ECC) and quantum computing. Let’s look into them briefly.
ECC is a public key encryption method based on the elliptical curve theory, which can create keys faster and more efficiently. These keys are also small and provide solutions based on the mathematics of elliptical curves, which makes tracking difficult. It creates keys faster than RSA, which are applied for uses like digital signatures for cryptocurrency, email encryption(one-way), and web communications protocol(SSL/TSL protocols).
If we move further into the world of encryption, we can see how much progress quantum computing has made. Quantum computing is an encryption method depending on quantum mechanics and its principles, using qubits. It can be calculated much faster than traditional computers. Examples of these methods are Grover’s algorithm and Shor’s algorithm.
Next, post-quantum cryptography has come into being to resist the power of quantum attacks and encryption. These methods also ensure traditional encryption methods like RSA and ECC.
In conclusion, whether securing your communication information or CVs on your PC, you should use some form of encryption as a protection tool. This way, your data is protected and you will have the convenience when you need to access it.
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FAQs
What is data encryption?
Data encryption is the method of converting plain text into cipher text to protect data from unauthorised access.
What are the aims of data encryption?
Data encryption aims to secure the data from being misused by cyber attacks, especially during storage/transmission.
What is the significance of encryption algorithms in cryptography?
Data encryption complements cryptography. In cryptography, a key is used to encrypt and decrypt the data that stays in authorised parties’ hands. Thus, encryption ensures security, integrity, and data confidentiality, which are also the aims of cryptography.
What are the different types of encryptions?
There are generally two types of encryption: symmetric and asymmetric encryption.
What is the difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryptions?
Symmetric encryption uses the same key while encrypting and decrypting, which can be mainly useful for securing data for future purposes. On the other hand, asymmetric enables a private key for decrypting alone.
Which algorithms are commonly used for data encryption?
Common algorithms used for data encryption are TripleDES, Blowfish, Twofish, AES, IDEA, MD5, HMAC, RSA, and ECC.
What is the future of encryption algorithms?
The future of encryption algorithms extends to quantum computing and post-quantum methods. Quantum methods utilise quantum mechanics, making encryption easier and more challenging for traditional algorithms. Thus, post-quantum mechanics have come to resist its impact on other methods and remain protected.
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Rithesh Raghavan, Co-Founder, and Director at Acodez IT Solutions, who has a rich experience of 16+ years in IT & Digital Marketing. Between his busy schedule, whenever he finds the time he writes up his thoughts on the latest trends and developments in the world of IT and software development. All thanks to his master brain behind the gleaming success of Acodez.
