Network encryption protects data from tampering and theft, reducing cybercrime and cyberterrorism. Encryption ensures privacy, integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation. Two types of cryptographic systems are symmetric key and public key. Outdated digital certificates play a role in public key encryption, such as SSL and TLS, which signal secure sites with “https”. Visitors are notified of unencrypted site transmissions depending on browser settings.
Cryptography is the science and study of encrypted communication. It is used recreationally, but also has important uses in many types of security applications. Network encryption refers to the use of encryption on computer networks. Its application is used to protect data from tampering and theft. When done well, network encryption helps reduce both cybercrime and cyberterrorism.
Encryption has four specific purposes. First, it helps ensure privacy by controlling who has access to the data. Second, it helps ensure integrity by making sure the data is not altered from the original transmission. Third, it’s used in authentication, the way to prove your identity and, by extension, your right to do whatever you’re doing, like signing up for a credit card purchase. Finally, it provides non-repudiation, which guarantees that the sender truly and undeniably originated the message.
The cryptographic systems used in network encryption are of two main types. They can be either symmetric key cryptography systems, also called secret key cryptography (SKC), on the one hand, or asymmetric or public key cryptography systems, also called public key cryptography (PKC), on the other. The main difference between the two systems is that while the “Secret” method uses a single key for both data encryption and decryption, the “Public” method uses two keys, one for encryption and the other for decryption. The original symmetric key encryption system, DES (Data Encryption System), has been replaced by AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). The public key cryptography system has been further secured with the use of digital certificates, which have become an important part of the network encryption system.
In the Public-Key Encryption system, and therefore in network encryption, outdated digital certificates play an important role. If the digital certificate, issued by a certificate authority (CA) — a trusted third party, such as Thawte® or VeriSign® — is verified by a user’s web browser, the public key in the certificate is used for data transmission. If the verification fails, the user is warned and can choose to leave the web page or trust the website in question despite the error.
Secure Socket Layers (SSL) is an implementation of public key cryptography. A newer version is called Transport Layer Security (TLS), and this may be the most familiar use of network encryption for most individuals. The use of TLS is signaled in the web address window by the appearance of “https” instead of “http”. When a visitor arrives on a secure site such as a financial site, payment transfer service site, or online banking site and the digital certificate is verified, communications are sent and sent in an encrypted manner. Depending on your browser settings, the site visitor is notified of any unencrypted site transmissions.
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