What does cryptography have to do with my life? If you would have asked that question a decade ago, you would have found the answer rather surprising. In fact, if you had thought of the word “cryptography” at all, it probably would’ve conjured up images of spies and James Bond’s gadgets. Although modern cryptography is used in many aspects of our lives, it’s not exactly common knowledge. For example, when asked what cryptography is, most people will probably describe it as either the science or study of encoding or the process by which information is encoded for transmission and storage over an insecure communication channel. And these answers are completely correct. However, this answer doesn’t give an inkling into what cryptography can do for you on a day to day basis.
What is Cryptography?
Cryptography is the study and application of methods for secure communication in the presence of third parties. It deals with the types of encryption and decryption, which are secret codes and public key codes.
Cryptography can be used to protect online payment systems, emails or other messages sent over the Internet, or anything else that involves sending private information over a network.
There are two basic types of encryption: symmetric (sometimes called private-key encryption) and asymmetric (sometimes called public-key encryption). Symmetric encryption uses a single secret key to both encrypt and decrypt the message while asymmetrical encryption uses two different but mathematically related keys – one to encrypt the message and one to decrypt the message.
How does Cryptography Work?
Cryptography relies on the use of keys. There are two main types – public key cryptography, which uses two keys (one private and one public), and symmetric key encryption, which uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt data. Public key cryptography is generally considered more secure than symmetric key encryption because it uses a pair of keys (one to lock and one to unlock) rather than just one, making it almost impossible to unlock the information without access to both keys.
Why use cryptography?
It is traditionally used as part of the process of securing communication between two parties. However, as data breaches have become more prevalent, cryptography is increasingly being used as a way of protecting stored data in databases.
Cryptography can be used to keep private information safe from hackers and cybercriminals.
Cryptography is a way of taking information or data and hiding it behind a set of algorithms and procedures which are so complex that it would take an incredibly long time to crack them. In layman’s terms cryptography is the study of making information secure and trying to get that information back based off of an algorithm. So when a person encrypts their data they are taking a piece of data and putting it into an algorithm with a key, the side that holds the key is the only side that can get the data back out in its original form. It then sends this data over to another party who uses the same algorithm and key to get this now encrypted piece of data back out and use it.
