Introduction and Mechanics of Encryption
Encryption
The conversion of data into ciphertext, that cannot be easily understood by unauthorized people. It is the only way to protect information in transit over the Internet. It is also a necessary part of defense-in-depth to protect information stored on Web sites or in a public cloud.

Basic Encryption Methods:
Several methods are used to encrypt data before being sent over the Internet.
Symmetric Encryption
Symmetric method: same key used for encryption and decryption.
Advantage: Much faster than asymmetric encryption
Disadvantage:
1. Both sender and receiver need to know the shared secret key. 2. A separate secret key needs to be created for use by each party with whom the use of encryption is desired. eg. If company A wants to encrypt information it shares with companies B and C, but prevent B and C from having access to the other’s information, it needs to create two encryption keys, one for use with company B and the other for use with company C. Otherwise, if company A shared only one common secret key with them, either company could decrypt any information to which it obtained access.
Asymmetric Encryption
Asymmetric method: different keys used for encryption and decryption. One key, called the public key, is widely distributed and available to everyone; the other, called the private key, is kept secret and known only to the owner of that pair of keys.
Advantages:
1. No sharing of key necessary. It does not matter who knows the public key, because any text encrypted with it can be decrypted only by using the corresponding private key. 2. More secure than symmetric systems
Disadvantage: Much slower than symmetric systems
In summary, e-business uses both types of encryption systems. Symmetric encryption is used to encode most of the data being exchanged, and asymmetric encryption is used