Cryptography Essay

Encryption technique is the translation of data into a secret code that will prevent hackers or identity thieves from being able to break or read the data that is sent across the network.

When a fellow general received the message, he would wrap the paper around his corresponding scytale to decipher the message (Tyson 2014). Since the advent of computers though, encryption has become increasing important and relies almost solely on cryptographic means to secure information. When speaking about encryption today, it refers more to the process rather than the mathematical formulas used to scramble data. The basic idea behind encrypting a computer message is such that it is scrambled with a sequence of random bits, known as a key, and only parties with the corresponding key can transpose it back into a comprehensible format. These keys are created via a cipher, otherwise known as an algorithm. When a user sends a message, known as the plaintext, across a network, the computer applies an algorithm to the information to encode it, resulting in a ciphertext (Encryption Basics 2014). This method can be best summarized visually:

Encryption is the conversion of electronic data into another form, called cipher text, which cannot be easily understood by anyone except authorized parties. The primary purpose of encryption is to protect the confidentiality of digital data stored on computer systems or transmitted via the Internet or other computer networks. Modern encryption algorithms play

Moreover, encryption requires use of a key or cipher, which is used to lock and unlock the hidden data. Such a key is necessary to allow the hidden data to be viewed in an intelligible manner by those who are authorized to view it. However, there is always a risk that the encryption key might fall into the wrong hands, thereby allowing the information to be accessed by unauthorized viewers.

Data, often referred to as plaintext, is encrypted using an encryption algorithm and an encryption key. This process generates ciphertext that can only be viewed in its original form if decrypted with the correct key. Decryption is simply the inverse of encryption, following the same steps but reversing the order in which the keys are applied (Rouse, 2014).

Encyption takes data and transforms it into unreadable jargon until a key is used to unlock or decrypt the data back to its original form. Due to its near infallibility, encryption is one the most best ways to secure data (Williams & Sawyer, 2015).

Important alphabets would include the Greek alphabet, which was the first phonemic alphabet. These are alphabets that are, “…sets of letters, usually arranged in a fixed order, each of which represents one or more phonemes, both consonants and vowels, in the language they are used to write.” (Ager) From this came the two most widely used alphabets, the Latin/Roman and the Cyrillic alphabets, which have been adapted to write numerous languages. From the periods of these writing systems, letters would have begun to spring up as a form of communication between people who were not readily available to give information to immediately.

Type of operations used for transforming plaintext to cipher text. All encryption algorithms are based on two general principles. Those are substitution, in which each element in the plain text is mapped into another element and transposition in which elements in the plaintext are rearranged. The fundamental requirement is that no information be lost. Most systems referred to as product systems, involved multiple stages of substitution and transposition [2].

Encryption on the other hand, is nothing new to humans.It has been used for millenniums, and can be traced as far back as ancient Egyptian history. There are many famous, but one stands out. Caesar Cipher, which is working on a very simple system, shifting the alphabet. This code is very simple to break, but there are other codes that are much harder. Equatorie of Planetis is a substitution cipher as well, but is not a shift of the alphabet. The way to solve this cipher is based on a letter system that’s called frequency analysis .It can be decoded with a method called frequency

According to the Newton's Telecom Dictionary, cryptography is, "the process of concealing the contents of a message from all except those who know the key," (207). It is also defined as ". . . the science, or art, of secret writing," (Huffman 2). The word "cryptography" originated

Encryption is one of the most important technologies of cybersecurity designed to protect the confidentiality of data. Encryption uses a complex mathematical formula and a key which randomizes and creates a coded or encrypted message. Only the party that the message or data is originally intended for can read in plain text by using the appropriate key to decrypt the data. Some encryption algorithms such as AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) are very complex

Monoalphabetic ciphers consists of only one letter standing for another letter. For example: if I was trying to write “Hi” and “L” stood for “H” and “K” stood for “I” then instead of writing “Hi” I would write “LK.” Because every letter only stands for one letter, these ciphers are very simple to decipher.

Cryptography, at least in some form, has been around since 1900 BC where the first known evidence had been seen in an Egyptian tomb of a nobleman, Khnuhotep II. Here, there are unusual hieroglyphic symbols that the scribe used in the place of more ordinary ones that one would expect. It is thought that the purpose of changing these symbols, it was not to hide the message, but make it seem like it was more dignified. However, evidence of cryptography has been traced back to the most of the major early civilizations. Arthasharta, an ancient Indian treatise, helps tell of an espionage service and mentions secret writing that their spies had used on assignements. Julias Caesar also had his very own cipher. It was a form of encryption to relay secret messages to his generals that were on the war front. It is a substitution cipher, and the most widely mentioned in history. A substitution cipher is where a plain text message would have each character

There are weak encryption and strong encryption. Caesars method is known as weak encryption because it can be deciphered. Deciphering a code without authorization is known as “cracking” a code. In order to crack the simple substitution code, you could make twenty-five different transformation tales where each of them has a different offset. Strong encryption, the opposite of weak encryption, is very tough to crack. By using expensive, specialized, code-breaking computers, strong encryptions methods can be broken. Also, encryption methods can be broken by the use of supercomputers, mainframe computers, workstations and personal computers. The codes can be broken using these computers by using the brute-force method, which consists of trying all of the possible keys (Parsons 329).

Encryption is a method of converting plain text to cipher text using some base keys and