CRYPTOGRAPHY

We need an efficient and simple way of securing the electronic documents from being read or used by people other than who are authorized to do it. Cryptography is a standard way of securing the electronic documents.

WHAT IS CRYPTOGRAPHY?

The art of secret writing The art of protection using information The science of encrypting or hiding secrets Needed for confidentiality

BASIC IDEA OF CRYPTOGRAPHY:

Basic idea of cryptography is to mumble-jumble the original message into something that is unreadable or to something that is readable but makes no sense of what the original message is. To retrieve the original message again, we have to transform the mumble-jumbled message back into the original message again.

CRYPTOLOGY

CRYPTOGRAPHY

CRYPTANALYSIS

Private Key (Secret Key)

Public Key

Block Cipher

Stream Cipher

Integer Factorization

Encipher, encrypt Decipher, decrypt

Discrete Logarithm

BASIC TERMINOLOGIES USED IN CRYPTOGRAPHY:

plaintext - the original message ciphertext - the coded message cipher - algorithm for transforming plaintext to ciphertext key - info used in cipher known only to sender/receiver encipher (encrypt) - converting plaintext to ciphertext decipher (decrypt) - recovering ciphertext from plaintext cryptography - study of encryption principles/methods cryptanalysis (codebreaking) - the study of principles/ methods of deciphering ciphertext without knowing key cryptology - the field of both cryptography and cryptanalysis

NEED OF CRYPTOGRAPHY

The main use of cryptography is mentioned below: 1) Private or confidentiality

2) Data integrity
3) Authentication 4) Non-repudation

BASICS OF CRYPTOGRAPHY ENCRYPTION:-Procedure to convert plain text into cipher text.

DECRYPTION:-Procedure to convert cipher text into plain text.

Ever encryption and decryption has two aspects: the ALGORITHM and the KEY used for encryption and decryption.

Inputs to encryption and decryption processes

Algorithm

Key

Cryptographic Algorithms:
A cryptographic algorithms works in combination with a key (a number, word or phrase), to encrypt the plain text. Same plain text encrypts to different cipher texts for different keys. Strength of a cryptosystems depends on the strength of the algorithm and the secrecy of the key.

KEYS:
A key is a value that works with a cryptographic algorithm to produce a specific ciphertext. Keys are basically really, really, big numbers . In public-key cryptography, the bigger the key, the more secure the ciphertext. NOTE: The algorithm is usually known to everybody. The key makes the process secure.

TWO KINDS OF CRYPTOGRAPHY SYSTEMS:

Symmetric key Cryptography

Asymmetric key cryptography

Symmetric cryptosystems use the same key (the secret key) to encrypt and decrypt a message. Symmetric cryptosystems are also called as private key cryptosystems.

Asymmetric cryptosystems: use one key (the public key) to

encrypt a message and a different key (the private key) to decrypt it. Asymmetric cryptosystems are also called as public key cryptosystems.

TYPES OF SECRET KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY:-

STREAM CIPHERS: Stream ciphers operate on a single bit (byte or computer word) at a time, and implement some form of feedback mechanism so that the key is constantly changing. BLOCK CIPHERS : The scheme encrypts one block of data at a time using the same key on each block.

SYMMETRIC KEY CRYPTOGRAPHIC ALGORITHMS

The symmetric key cryptographic algorithms are as follow:a) DES b) TRIPLE-DES c) BLOWFISH d) IDEA e) RC4 f) RC5 g) TwoFish

PUBLIC KEY CRYPTOGRAPHIC ALGORITHMS: The Asymmetric(public key) key cryptographic algorithms are as follow:a) RSA

b) Diffie-Hellman
c) Elliptic curve

Brief Introduction Of RC4 RC4 is a stream cipher designed by Rivest for RSA Data Security (now RSA Security). It is a variable key-size stream cipher with byte-oriented operations. The algorithm is based on the use of a random permutation. Analysis shows that the period of the cipher is overwhelmingly likely to be greater than 10100. Eight to sixteen machine operations are required per output byte, and the cipher can be expected to run very quickly in software. Independent analysts have scrutinized the algorithm and it is considered secure.

The use of RC4

RC4 is used for file encryption in products such as RSA SecurPC which is a software utility that encrypts disks and files on both desktop and laptop personal computers. It is also used for secure communications, as in the encryption of traffic to and from secure web sites using the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Handshake Protocol which was developed by Netscape Communications Corporation to provide security and privacy over the Internet.

Advantages of symmeric key - Simple: - Encrypt and decrypt your own files - Fast. - Uses less computer resources - Prevents widespread message security compromise Disadvantages of Symmetric key - Need for secure channel for secret key exchange: - Too many keys - Origin and authenticity of message cannot be guaranteed

Advantage of Asymmetric key - Convenience - Provides for message authentication: - Detection of tampering: - Provide for non-repudiation: Disadvantage of Asymmetric key - Public keys should/must be authenticated - Slow - Uses up more computer resources - Widespread security compromise is possible - Loss of private key may be irreparable
As for which of them is more secure, there are differing views. Some experts consider symmetric key encryption to be more secure and others think the public key encryption method is better. Ideally, both of them are employed together to take advantage of their benefits.