

The key is sometimes referred to as a shared secret because the sender or computing system doing the encryption must share the secret key with all entities authorized to decrypt the message. Symmetric ciphers, also referred to as secret key encryption, use a single key. The most widely used types of ciphers fall into two categories: symmetric and asymmetric. How does encryption work?Īt the beginning of the encryption process, the sender must decide what cipher will best disguise the meaning of the message and what variable to use as a key to make the encoded message unique. In application architectures, however, the three components usually run or are stored in separate places to reduce the chance that compromise of any single component could result in compromise of the entire system. In laptop encryption, all three components are running or stored in the same place: on the laptop. There are three major components to any encryption system: the data, the encryption engine and the key management. Businesses are increasingly relying on encryption to protect applications and sensitive information from reputational damage when there is a data breach. Every time someone uses an ATM or buys something online with a smartphone, encryption is used to protect the information being relayed. Nonrepudiation prevents senders from denying they sent the encrypted message.Įncryption is commonly used to protect data in transit and data at rest.Integrity proves the contents of a message have not been changed since it was sent.Authentication verifies the origin of a message.Confidentiality encodes the message's content.
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In modern times, encryption is used to protect data stored on computers and storage devices, as well as data in transit over networks.ĭownload this entire guide for FREE now! Why is encryption important?Įncryption plays an important role in securing many different types of information technology (IT) assets. Historically, it was used by militaries and governments. The time and difficulty of guessing this information is what makes encryption such a valuable security tool.Įncryption has been a longstanding way for sensitive information to be protected. When an encrypted message is intercepted by an unauthorized entity, the intruder has to guess which cipher the sender used to encrypt the message, as well as what keys were used as variables. The variable, which is called a key, is what makes a cipher's output unique. To be effective, a cipher includes a variable as part of the algorithm. The formulas used to encode and decode messages are called encryption algorithms, or ciphers.

In computing, unencrypted data is also known as plaintext, and encrypted data is called ciphertext. The science of encrypting and decrypting information is called cryptography.
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Encryption is the method by which information is converted into secret code that hides the information's true meaning.
