Encryption Use Cases: From Secure Communications to Data Security

When it comes to data security, ancient encryption techniques have become an important cornerstone of today’s digital age. From top secret government information to everyday personal messages, encryption can help you hide your most sensitive information from unwanted onlookers. Whether we’re shopping online or storing valuable trade secrets on disk, we can thank encryption for any privacy we may have.

The key principles of encryption build trust when conducting business online. These include:

• Confidentiality: Encrypted information can only be accessed by the person for whom it is intended and no one else can.
• verity: Encrypted information cannot be modified at rest or during transmission between sender and intended recipient without changes being detected.
• Non-repudiation: The originator/sender of encrypted information cannot opt ​​out of transmitting the information.
• proof: The identities of the sender and recipient are verified, as well as the source and destination of the information.
• core management: The keys used to encrypt and decrypt data and related operations such as key length, distribution, generation, rotation, etc. are kept secure.

Before we look at the different use cases for encryption, let’s review the basics of encryption.

Understanding Cryptography Basics

Throughout history, cryptographers have used a variety of methods to encode personal information and create encrypted messages. Modern encryption algorithms are much more advanced, but the basic steps are very similar.

Basic encryption takes the original unencoded information (called plaintext) and encodes it into a scrambled code (called ciphertext) using a secret key. This key can also be used to decode the ciphertext back into plaintext.

encryption algorithm

Encryption algorithms are mathematical formulas used to encrypt and decrypt data. These algorithms generate secret keys to determine how data is converted from original plaintext to ciphertext and vice versa. Well-known encryption algorithms include Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC).

At a basic level, most cryptographic algorithms generate keys by multiplying large prime numbers. Multiplication is easy on modern computers, but factoring a large number back into two large primes requires enormous computing power and is virtually impossible. Cryptographic systems using smaller keys can be easily reverse-engineered, but even the fastest supercomputers would need hundreds to hundreds of thousands of years to brute-force today’s strong cryptographic algorithms. Elliptic curve cryptography adds an additional level of security by using random numbers to generate much stronger keys that even next-generation quantum computers cannot break.

core management

Key management is an essential part of encryption. All cryptographic systems use keys to encrypt and decrypt data. Key management involves securely generating, storing, and distributing encryption keys among users. Weak or stolen keys can create serious vulnerabilities in any cryptographic system, so proper key management is critical to maintaining the security of encrypted data. Key size, randomness, and storage are all important features of key management.

symmetric encryption

Symmetric cryptography systems, also known as private key cryptography or secret key cryptography, use only one key for encryption and decryption. For this type of system to work, each user must already have access to the same private key. The private key may be shared via a previously established trusted communication channel (e.g., a private courier or a secure line) or, more substantially, via a secure key exchange method (e.g., a Diffie-Hellman key agreement).

Despite the vulnerabilities introduced by using only a single key, this type of encryption is faster and more efficient than other methods. Popular symmetric encryption algorithms include Data Encryption Standard (DES), Triple DES (3DES), and AES.

Asymmetric encryption

asymmetric yenencryptionAlso known as public key cryptography, it uses a pair of keys: a public key and a private key. The public key is used for encryption, the private key is used for decryption, and each user has their own key pair. The two encryption keys used in public key encryption add an additional layer of security, but this additional protection comes at the cost of less effectiveness. RSA, ECC, and Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) are common asymmetric encryption algorithms.

Encryption Use Cases

secure communication

One of the most common use cases for encryption is providing secure communications over the Internet. Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), use cryptographic protocols to establish a protected connection between a web browser and a server. This secure channel ensures that data shared between a user’s browser and a website remains private and cannot be intercepted by malicious actors.

Encryption is also used in common messaging applications such as email and WhatsApp to provide end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and maintain the privacy of user conversations. E2EE allows only the sender and intended recipient to decrypt and read the message, making it nearly impossible for third parties, including the user’s own service provider, to access the content.

data encryption

Data encryption is a widely used form of encryption to protect sensitive information stored on a variety of devices, including hard drives, smartphones, and cloud storage services. Strong encryption algorithms, such as AES, effectively transform plaintext into ciphertext, ensuring that even if an unauthorized party gains access, sensitive data cannot be decrypted without access to the authorized user’s encryption key.

data integrity

Encryption is also used to ensure the integrity of data. A hash function is a type of cryptographic algorithm that creates a fixed-size hash (also known as a digest) of data, essentially converting a set of data into a unique numeric hash number. These hashes are so unique that changing even a single character or space within the plain text produces a completely different numeric value. By comparing the hash of the received data to the expected hash, the recipient, application, or website can verify data integrity and ensure that the data has not been altered in transit.

Hash functions are also often used to verify user passwords without the need to create a vulnerable client-side private password database. Instead, services such as online banking portals only collect and store hashes of users’ passwords. Even if such a database were stolen, a malicious actor would not be able to deduce a user’s password from the hash alone.

proof

Verifying the authenticity of information sent and received is an important function of encryption used in conducting any business and is made possible by the use of digital signatures. Asymmetric encryption allows documents to be modified with a digital signature that can only be created using a private key. Recipients of digitally signed documents can use the sender’s public key to verify the authenticity of the signature and confirm that the document has not been tampered with in transit.

Non-repudiation

Non-repudiation is a legal concept that ensures the authenticity of a received message and prevents the sender from potentially denying the validity of the message he sent. Digital signatures are an important component of non-repudiation because they prove that the sender and not someone else signed the message or document. Cryptography-based non-repudiation established by data integrity protocols and digital signatures provides a workable framework for verifying legally binding negotiations, contracts, and other types of legal transactions and businesses.

key exchange

Key exchange, a key component of secure communication, is an important aspect of establishing a secure connection, especially in asymmetric cryptographic systems. Cryptography also plays an important role in this preliminary stage. A landmark in the development of public key cryptography, the Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm allows two parties to securely exchange encryption keys over an insecure channel. This method ensures that even if an eavesdropper intercepts the key exchange conversation, they cannot decrypt the encryption keys being exchanged. Cryptography, using algorithms such as the Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol, allows parties to establish a secure connection through public key cryptography without the need for a previously established and potentially vulnerable alternative key exchange.

API communication security

The collaborative app-to-app operability that is a hallmark of Web 2.0 (and beyond) allows a variety of applications and web services to retrieve data within a virtual, walled ecosystem, enabling all kinds of apps, from embedding social media posts into the news. Functionality can be greatly expanded. This article is about sharing critical system analytics into advanced operational dashboards.

These systems, known as application programming interfaces (APIs), are designed to facilitate communication between programs and use encryption to protect sensitive data from intrusive eavesdropping or tampering, ensuring that only authorized parties have access to the information. API keys and tokens are often used in conjunction with encryption to protect sensitive data exchanged between applications, especially in situations where security is of utmost importance, such as public utilities and infrastructure.

Quantum Computing Cybersecurity

The rise of quantum computing poses a serious threat to traditional cryptography methodologies and cybersecurity systems. Most modern cryptosystems are designed to withstand the potential computing power of conventional computers, and a successful brute force attack on today’s cryptographic algorithms would simply require hundreds to hundreds of thousands of years. But quantum computers could potentially increase the performance of today’s computers by orders of magnitude, reducing the time it takes to crack the strongest encryption keys from thousands of years to mere seconds.

Most modern encryption algorithms cannot withstand theoretical quantum computer attacks, but cryptographers are responding to these vulnerabilities by developing quantum-resistant encryption techniques. There are as many use cases for quantum-resistant and post-quantum cryptography as there are for general cryptography. Although quantum computing is still considered to be in the prototype stage, most computer scientists agree that if breakthroughs are made within the next 10 to 50 years, the development of quantum-resistant cryptography will become as important as quantum computing itself.

Blockchain Security

Blockchain technology relies heavily on cryptography to ensure the security and immutability of all on-chain transactions and updates. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin use cryptographic algorithms to mine and mint new coins, while a cryptographic hash function ensures the integrity of blocks in the chain. When you make a transaction, we use public key cryptography to generate and verify digital signatures. Encompassing most of the core principles of cryptography, blockchain technology uses cryptography to create a trustless ecosystem where all operations can be easily authenticated and verified.

Learn how IBM encryption solutions help businesses protect their sensitive data.

IBM Cryptography Solutions combine cutting-edge technology, consulting, systems integration and managed security services to ensure cryptographic agility, quantum safety, and robust governance and risk policies. From symmetric encryption to asymmetric encryption, hash functions, and more, ensure data and mainframe security with end-to-end encryption tailored to your business needs.

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