Data encryption scrambles information so that it can only be read by authorized parties. It’s an essential tool for eliminating the risk of sensitive information breaches by criminals and hackers.
Hackers can bypass some encryption methods, but it’s often extremely resource-intensive and impractical for them to do so. Learn about the various encryption methods that businesses implement to safeguard their data and secure transactions.
Asymmetric Encryption
Asymmetric Encryption is one of the safest methods of encryption that offers a wide range of benefits. It is ideal for use over the internet and can be used in conjunction with digital signatures to ensure that documents, software, and emails are authentic. Its main advantage is that it provides a high level of data security without requiring users to reveal their private keys, making it very difficult for cybercriminals to intercept and read information.
It works by separating the encryption and decryption processes into two different sets of keys. A public key is made available to anyone who needs it, while the private key remains only with its owner. This means that messages encrypted using the public key can only be decrypted by the corresponding private key, which only its owner can access. As a result, there is no chance that information can be stolen from the sender or recipient.
This method of encryption is widely used in daily communication channels, such as email and web browsing. It is also used in security protocols such as TLS and SSL to secure connections over the internet. Popular asymmetric key encryption algorithms include EIGamal, RSA, DSA, and Elliptic curve techniques.
What is the Need for Asymmetric Encryption?
The need for asymmetric encryption was highlighted in 1976, when three computer scientists at Stanford (Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman, and Ralph Merkle) published their work on cryptography. Their invention paved the way for modern asymmetric encryption methods, including RSA and Diffie-Hellman-Merkle key exchanges.
In an age where data privacy is a concern, this type of encryption is becoming increasingly common. It is a vital technology that helps keep sensitive information away from prying eyes. For example, imagine you have a team of sales agents from around the world who must report back to headquarters with their monthly sales numbers. To protect their personal information, the company could employ asymmetric encryption to create a public key for each agent to encrypt their information with and a private key at headquarters to decrypt it. This would mean that only the sales managers at head office can see their sales figures, while all others would only be able to read garbled data.
Other uses of asymmetric encryption include online banking, email encryption, and digital signatures. The latter is a particularly useful application for businesses, as it enables them to confirm the authenticity of documents, software, and even emails. Asymmetric encryption is also useful for protecting sensitive information in storage, as it can be used to create a “lock” on a file so that no one can access its contents unless they have the private key that unlocks it.
Asymmetric encryption is one of the most secure forms of cryptography, but it has several disadvantages that make it less practical than symmetric key encryption. One of the most significant drawbacks is that it requires more processing power and latency to encrypt and decrypt data, and it is often only used for small blocks of data. Fortunately, there are ways to mitigate these issues, such as the use of trusted third parties to verify the ownership of a public key or a web of trust to confirm the integrity of a key pair.