Data encryption is a method of securing data so that it is decrypted only by an encryption key kept by the party to whom it is transferred. The use of encryption is utilized in a myriad of fields and technologies to protect confidential and sensitive information from being seen by unauthorized individuals. Mathematicians, cryptographers and computer scientists develop different encryption methods to provide protection against specific types of threats.
The most popular type of encryption is symmetric. This is because it makes use of one key that is utilized to both encrypt as well as decrypt information. Symmetric encryption is quicker than asymmetrical methods. However, there are some risks of theft due to the fact that the secret key has to be transferred securely between two systems.
Asymmetric encryption is more difficult to use, however it can provide better security against man in middle attacks. Asymmetric keys is easily exchanged between two parties to establish an encrypted connection without having to be offline and share the private keys.
There are many popular encryption algorithms used today, such as RSA, Rivest Shamir-Adleman, Blowfish and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). AES was designed to replace DES since it provides higher levels of security due to larger blocks and longer lengths of keys than DES which was more vulnerable to brute force attacks. It is used by several software vendors, including ecommerce platforms for secure transactions and password security tools.
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