3.1.5

Symmetric Encyrption

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Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption

The use of encryption is vital to protect our private information. One type of encryption is symmetric encryption.

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Symmetric encryption

  • Symmetric or private key encryption is used to encrypt data for transmission.
  • A private key is used to convert plain text into cypher text.
  • This cypher text and private key are then transferred to another location or person.
  • The key is then used to decrypt the cypher back into plain text.
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Security

  • Using a single key to encrypt and decrypt text proposes a massive flaw in security, as anyone with the key can decrypt the cypher.
  • As with passwords, the longer the encryption key, the less likely it is to be compromised by brute force, and so the more secure the encryption.
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Asymmetric encryption

  • Asymmetric or public key encryption is a much stronger form of encryption and uses two keys: a public and a private key.
  • The public key is given to anyone who wishes to send you encrypted data.
  • This public key can only be used to encrypt information and not decrypt the information.
  • The private key is used to decrypt the data, and only you have this key.
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Public and private keys

  • The public and private key are related to one another through mathematical operations.
  • The private key you set cannot be figured out from the public key.

Jump to other topics

1Components of a Computer

2Software & Software Development

3Exchanging Data

4Data Types, Data Structures & Algorithms

5Legal, Moral, Cultural & Ethical Issues

6Elements of Computational Thinking

6.1Thinking Abstractly

6.2Thinking Ahead

6.3Thinking Procedurally

6.4Thinking Logically

6.5Thinking Concurrently

7Problem Solving & Programming

8Algorithms

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