What is encryption and what are the main typologies
One of the main tools we have to keep ourselves safe when we browse the Internet or use different applications is encryption.
Encryption helps us protect and keep secure our activity, the information we share, and our personal and session data.
What is encryption?
Encryption can be included within cryptography. This is a technique with which we seek to encrypt or encode texts or information so that it is only accessible to the sender and receiver.
In the world of computing and cybersecurity, this technique uses complex mathematical algorithms to encrypt information.
To consider that information or text has been encrypted, it must meet a series of requirements or characteristics:
Privacy: Information is only accessible to authorized people.
Integrity: The information has not been modified by any external agent. Information must be kept intact from the time it is received until it is delivered.
Authentication: It must be possible to verify the identity of the other party within this information exchange.
This is why encryption is one of the most popular and effective data security methods used by businesses.
Types of encryption
Within the world of cryptography we can differentiate between two types of encryption, symmetric and asymmetric.
Symmetric encryption
Symmetric encryption, also called secret key cryptography, is a cryptographic method characterized by the use of the same key to encrypt and decrypt messages at the sender and receiver.
Once both parties have access to this key, the sender encrypts a message using the key, sends it to the recipient, and the recipient decrypts it with the same key.
It is the oldest form of encryption and is still relevant due to its data transmission speed.
The algorithms used for this type of encryption are Blowfish, RC4, DES, AES-128, AES-256, etc.
Asymmetric encryption
Asymmetric encryption, also known as public key cryptography or PKI, is a cryptographic method characterized by the use of two keys, one public and one private, for the transfer of data and information.
In asymmetric encryption, the sender uses the public key to encode information into an unreadable format, which can only be decrypted or read with a secret key. When sending encrypted data from the public key scheme, the receiver needs a secret key to access the encrypted data.
Some of the most used algorithms for this type of encryption are DSA, RSA, PKCS and EIGamal.
Differences between symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption
Some of the differences between these two types of encryption have already been explained in their definition. Let’s comment on them:
Security
Symmetric encryption is older and uses a single key that must be communicated with the risk that this entails. However, asymmetric encryption uses two keys and can securely communicate the public key to third parties.
Although asymmetric encryption is more secure, a priori we will have to look at each case individually and the combination of both encryptions is very interesting.
Speed
Asymmetric encryption uses more time in its encryption and decryption processes than symmetric encryption because it is a more complex process. This is why some organizations opt for symmetric encryption as it is faster.
Number of keys
Key management is also an advantage of using asymmetric encryption. You only need one key pair, per user, for each user, to encrypt messages for all other users.
As we saw with symmetric encryption, as the number of users increases, the number of keys increases.
When encrypting communications with a large volume of data in transit, asymmetric encryption is better. On the other hand, symmetric encryption is usually used in the transmission of small volumes of data in authentication systems.