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Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption

The document explains the concepts of symmetric and asymmetric encryption, highlighting how encryption transforms plaintext into unreadable ciphertext. Symmetric encryption uses a single key for both encryption and decryption, posing security challenges, while asymmetric encryption employs a pair of keys (public and private) to enhance security. The process of asymmetric encryption involves the sender using the receiver's public key to encrypt messages, which the receiver then decrypts with their private key.

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10 views3 pages

Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption

The document explains the concepts of symmetric and asymmetric encryption, highlighting how encryption transforms plaintext into unreadable ciphertext. Symmetric encryption uses a single key for both encryption and decryption, posing security challenges, while asymmetric encryption employs a pair of keys (public and private) to enhance security. The process of asymmetric encryption involves the sender using the receiver's public key to encrypt messages, which the receiver then decrypts with their private key.

Uploaded by

nekeje7751
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Symmetric and asymmetric encryption

Encryption alters data into a form that is unreadable by anybody for whom
the data is not intended. It cannot prevent the data being intercepted, but it
stops it from making any sense to the eavesdropper.

Plaintext and ciphertext

The original data being sent is known as plaintext. Once it has gone through
an encryption algorithm, it produces ciphertext

Symmetric encryption

Symmetric encryption uses an encryption key; the same key is used to


encrypt and decrypt the encoded message.

The real difficulty is keeping the encryption key a secret (for example, it
needs to be sent in an email or a text message which can be intercepted).
Therefore, the issue of security is always the main drawback of symmetrical
encryption, since a single encryption key is required for both sender and
recipient.

Asymmetric Encryption

It makes use of two keys called the public key and the private key:

» public key (made available to everybody)


» private key (only known to the computer user).

Both types of key are needed to encrypt and decrypt messages.


1) The receiver uses an algorithm to generate a matching pair of keys
(private and public) that they must keep stored on their computers; the
matching pairs of keys are mathematically linked but can’t be derived
from each other.
2) The receiver sends the public key to the sender
3) The sender uses the public key to encrypt his document and send the
cypher text back to the receiver
4) The receiver uses his matching private key to decrypt the document.

Exercise 1

June 2024 p11

Exercise 2

June 2020 p12

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