Encryption has a long history escorting back to when the early Greeks and Romans sent secret messages by changing letters only decipherable with a cryptographic key. Join us for a quick lesson and learn more about how encryption works. Here, we’ll give you a brief about what is Encryption and how it works, and some examples of various types of encryption. (also see, Best VPN for Strong Encryption)
What is Encryption?
If you haven’t watched the movie “Imitation Game” yet; then you should see it ASAP! It is all about how the British M16 agency infringes on the Nazi encrypted codes with the aid of mathematicians in 1939.
The mathematics professor forms a team, which examined the encrypted messages of Nazis and then built a machine to decrypt those messages. This movie is an excellent way to develop an understanding of the encryption method without getting bored.
But if you are looking for a smart, easy answer; encryption is a process that transforms the simple text into ciphertext (encrypted text) by using algorithm codes and keys. Now the ciphertext is only interpretable if the recipient has the right key. In this way, you are protected from hackers, as they fail to steal your precious data.
How does Encryption Work?
Until now, we assume you get the imprecise idea of what is encryption and why it’s a need. Now, it is time to describe how does it work in the present world. For this, it is important to know how many kinds of encryption are available.
Types of Encryption
Following are the two different types of encryption:
Symmetric key algorithms use related or identical encryption keys for both encryption and decryption.
Asymmetric key algorithms use different keys for encryption and decryption—this is usually referred to as Public-key Cryptography.
Symmetric Key Encryption
To explain this concept; we’ll use the postal service metaphor described in Wikipedia to understand how symmetric key algorithms work.
Alice inserts her secret message in a case and locks the case using a lock to which she has a key. She then conveys the case to Bob through normal mail. When Bob gets the box; he employs an identical copy of Alice’s key (which he has somehow acquired before; maybe by a face-to-face meeting) to open the case and read the message. Bob can then use the same lock to send his secret answer.(also check, A Beginner’s Encryption Guide: What is Encryption and How to Set it Up?)
Symmetric-key algorithms can be classified into stream ciphers and block ciphers—stream ciphers encrypt the segments of the message one at a time, and block ciphers take several bits, usually in blocks of 64 bits at a time, and encrypt them as a singular unit. There is a lot of various algorithms you can choose from—the more famous and well-respected symmetric algorithms include Twofish, Serpent, AES (Rijndael), Blowfish, CAST5, RC4, TDES, and IDEA.
Asymmetric Encryption
In an asymmetric key system, Bob and Alice have different locks, instead of the single lock with various keys from the symmetric example. Note: this is, of course, an exceedingly simplified illustration of how it works, which is much more complex, but you’ll get an imprecise idea.
First, Alice requests Bob to send his open lock to her through regular mail, keeping his key to himself. When Alice gets it, she uses it to lock a box holding her message and sends the locked case to Bob. Bob can then unlock the case with his key and decode the message from Alice. To answer, Bob must likewise get Alice’s open lock to lock the case before sending it back to her.
The critical edge in an asymmetric key system is that Bob and Alice never require sending a copy of their keys to each other. This stops a third party (perhaps, in the example, a corrupt postal worker) from copying a key while it is in transition, providing the third party to spy on all future messages sent between Alice and Bob.
Conclusion
We expect you to get a profound understanding of what is encryption and how it works. The very process of encryption is applied by VPN services. Top VPN services use AES 256 military-grade encryption, so to secure your data and information online, you can opt for this kind of service.
