Cryptography

  • It is science concerned with the study of secret communication
  • Encryption
    • Process of transforming data such that only authorized people can decrypt it
  • Encoding
    • Transforming data that anybody can decode
  • Decryption
    • Process of transforming encrypted data back to original data
  • Cipher
    • aka Cypher
    • Algorithm for performing encryption/decryption
  • Cryptanalysis
    • Study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information without access to the key

Types of Crypto systems

  • Symmetric
    • Shared secret key for both signing and verification
    • Generally simple and fast
    • Examples
      • HMAC SHA256
      • Blowfish
      • AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)
  • Asymmetric
    • Uses pubic/private key pairs
    • Private key signs the token
    • Public key verifies the token
    • Generally slow
    • Examples:
      • RSA (PKCS#1)
      • Diffie–Hellman key exchange
      • Digital Signature
    • Example protocols
      • GPG
      • SSH
      • SSL/TLS
      • IPSec
      • Bitcoin