Different types of Encryption

Esther Dyson, a former journalist and Wall Street analyst have said that Encryption is a powerful defensive weapon for free people. It offers a technical guarantee of privacy, regardless of who is running the government. It's hard to think of a more powerful, less dangerous tool for liberty. To explain this interesting statement, it is important to define the term Encryption. “Encryption is the conversion of a message or data file into a form that cannot be understood by unauthorized readers.” (Dyson) Encryption can be thought as locking something valuable into a strong box with a key. Sensitive data is encrypted by using a key algorithm, which renders it unreadable without the knowledge of the key. Data encryption keys are determined at connect time between a connection and the computer on the other end. The use of data encryption can be initiated by a personal computer or by the server it’s connecting to. On these terms, “Encryption is the technology that makes E-COMMERCE possible because it underlies the security systems used to protect electronic financial transactions.” (Dyson)
Similarly, Dan Boneh, Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, gives another definition for the term. “Encryption is a method for users to securely share data over an insecure network or storage server.” (Boneh, Sahai and Waters) Since there are many transactions people do every day such as online banking or online shopping, it is necessary to make sure that they are done safely with the use of Encryption.
As a matter of fact, the applications of encryption are very important. First of all we have data protection. Here we are referring to files and email encryption. The data is protected in the hard disk in case a hacker gets into the system. However, if the person who has the key of the encryption to decode the message shares it, then the encryption will not be effective. On the other hand, Encryption is also used for authentication which means proof of identification. For example, if the user wants to log into a system using his or her username and password, all the details will be sent over the network already encrypted. This is the reason why an additional ‘s’ will appear next to http.
With this in mind, it is essential to mention that since the 1970, Modern Cryptography has been creating methods and techniques to avoid activities such as hacking, sniffing, etc. Here my personal experience serves as an illustration. I remember going to Dunken Donuts to have a coffee and “play” with my Kindle Fire HD. I went to Facebook and then I decided to get to bankofamerica.com to check my debit balance. I have always heard about the possibility of having my bank account hacked, but I never really thought it could ever happen to me, which is not very wise. So I stopped going in public places to check my bank account until I found out that my bank has actually an encrypted web site, and therefore it is very safe. Here is the reason why I found very interesting to find out what encryption is and how it actually works.
For the purpose of understanding how Encryption works, a common classification of Encryption is given now. The first method of encryption ever created is known as Symmetric Key, which is also known as a single key encryption. This method uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt the message. There are two types of algorithms for Symmetric Key: The Stream Cipher and the Block Cipher. In the Stream Cipher the plain text are encrypted one at the time, and each bits of plain text are then converted into sequential changing digits. In the Block Cipher a block of plain texts are encrypted, and each block has fixed length and unwavering digits. An example is AES. We can clearly see that Encryption is merely converting data from its normal, readable state that it is called here plaintext to secure data called cipher text that can only be read by a recipient that has a secret key. But this method did not provide much security at that time because what if someone gets hold of the key and is able to decipher the message.
Consequently, the method that arose to better the previous method is the Asymmetric Encryption. According to Dr. Kamaljit, member of the Amitya Institute of Technology and Science in Gujarat, India “Asymmetric Encryption uses two different keys for encryption and decryption. A public key is used for the encryption and then a private one for the decryption”. Therefore, Asymmetric Encryption is like a combination of public and private key. “Private Key is only known by your computer,” he continues, while the private key is given to other computers with which it wants to communicate securely. Everyone can have a public key, but in order to decode the message we need a private key.” (Lakhtaria) Asymmetric Encryption is also known as Public key encryption, and PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is one of the most popular ones. Also we have RSA and El –Gamal.
Furthermore, to continue with our outline about the improvements on Encryption, Boneh, Sahai, and Waters in their article Functional Encryption talk about a more recent method of encryption. Previously, we mentioned that asymmetric encryption needs two different keys to be able to decode a message, and it is also pretty much like “all or nothing,” meaning that asymmetric decryption can only decode the entire plain text or learns nothing about the plaintext. To solve this issue, in functional encryption the decryption key may reveal only partial information about the plaintext. For example, functional decryption is able to decrypt an encrypted image but nothing else. So with this new method, Boneh sustains: “A decryption key enables a user to learn specific function of the encrypted data and nothing else.”
Finally, Biometric Encryption is a new process that joins the PIN or key to biometric. “It is not possible to get key or biometric from the stored master file/template. The key can be recreated only by producing the live biometric sample on the verification. The digital key is randomly generated on sign up; the user will not have a clue about it. The key is completely independent of the biometrics. Once the biometric is obtained, the biometric algorithm will attach the key to the biometric securely, and stores as the private template. Once the registration is over both key and biometrics is discarded.” (Lakhtaria)
In the final analysis, it is safe to say that Encryption has become one of the most important technologies in the safety and security industry. The challenge now is to ensure that these methodologies are able to handle new ways of stealing private information and to completely satisfy companies and personal needs.

Works Cited

Boneh, Dan, Amit Sahai and Brent Waters. "Functional Encryption." A New Vison for Public Key Cryptography (2012): 56-64. 13th October 2013.
Dyson, Esther. "Encryption. Essential Internet." (2003): 77-79.
Lakhtaria, Kamaljit. "Protecting Computer Network with Encryption Technique: A Study." International Journal of U-2E- Service Science of Technology 42 (2011): 43-51. Academic Search Complete. 15 October 2013.