As the world is becoming more technology friendly, it is becoming easy for hackers to get control of our accounts.Internet banking and online payments are always susceptible to ransomware attack. So, the duty of the cryptologists and the cyber-crime officials are becoming increasingly difficult. So, let’s go ahead with Cryptography now which is a key to digital security.
INTRODUCTION
The word Cryptography is derived from two Greek words “cryptos” meaning hidden and “graphein” meaning writing.
Cryptography is a science that applies complex mathematics and logic to design strong encryption methods. Cryptography is also an art. Cryptography allows people to keep confidence in the electronic world. People can do their business on an electric channel without worrying of deceit and deception.
When people started doing business online and needed to transfer funds electronically, the applications of cryptography for integrity began to surpass its use for confidentiality. In today’s world, thousands of people interact electronically every day by different means like emails, ATM machines, e-commerce or cellular phones. The rapid increase of information transmitted electronically resulted to an increased reliance on cryptography and authentication.
The simplest example of cryptography is a transformation of information to prevent other from observing its meaning. Here, we prevent information from reaching an enemy in a usable form.
Early cryptographers used three methods for information encryption:
Substitution
Transposition
Codes
Security benefits of Cryptography
Assuming the individual’s private key has not been compromised, encrypting data and messages offers the following security benefits:
CONFIDENTIALITY – Because the content is encrypted with an individual’s public key, it can only be decrypted with the individual’s private key, ensuring only the intended recipient can decrypt and view the contents.
INTEGRITY –Part of the decryption process involves verifying that the contents of the contents of the original encrypted message and the new decrypted match. So, even the slightest change to the original content would cause the decryption process to fail.
Importance of Cryptography
It is widely used for both technical and non-technical reasons. Non-technologically, it is used for hiding messages from inbox and also for creating cipher. It uses math to develop strong and secure data from malware attack. Other areas where it is used are listed below:
It prevents hackers from reading data.
It stops unauthorized users to make any tampering with the software applications.
One way cryptographic functions are used to digitally sign content.
It protects the file from viruses and worms.
State and military secrets.
Thus, without cryptography, hacker’s can easily get into our bank accounts, email, inbox etc.
