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Cipher encryption uses a key to protect information, with block and stream methods determining how encryption is applied. Symmetric ciphers use the same key for encryption and decryption, while asymmetric ciphers use different keys. Stream ciphers are constantly changing, but can be deciphered if the code repeats or the message is known.
Cipher encryption is a variety of encryption in which a key is used to safeguard encrypted information. In general, there are two encryption methods: the block method and the stream method. These determine how encryption is applied to the original message. Besides these two methods, there are also two styles. A cipher is symmetric or asymmetric depending on whether the message requires the same decryption cipher or a different one.
Encrypted messages have been a staple of human secrecy since the earliest civilizations. Methods have come and gone to keep important missives safe, but most have been some sort of encryption. Methods of using a predefined key to encrypt and decrypt messages have occupied many people’s lives. In the beginning, these keys were only complex due to the user’s low technology; there are now supercomputers that do nothing but encrypt and decrypt messages.
Block ciphers and stream ciphers make up the majority of ciphers. A block cipher encodes information in blocks of a predetermined size. If a cipher is designed to encode 200 characters, that’s exactly what it does. If the message is longer, it must be broken into several parts, and if it is shorter, it requires padding characters. A padding character is a character that simply lengthens the message; it can be anything from a stream of single characters to a random assortment of letters and spaces.
Stream ciphers are an innovation of the computer age. This style of encryption generates and adapts its cipher string as it works. This encryption method uses the current state of the encrypting machine to generate the encryption.
This method is constantly changing to match the current state of the system. Stream ciphers are nearly indestructible until two things happen; the code cannot repeat itself, and no one who intercepts the message can know its contents. If the code repeats, the sequence can be deciphered with little effort due to the markers left in the code. If an interceptor knows the contents of the message, he can edit the message without opening it.
In a symmetric cipher, the key used to encrypt the message is the same as the key used to decrypt the message. These codes are simple and easy to create, but the key is endangered as it travels from place to place to decode. Also, if any of the key storage locations are compromised, the entire code is broken.
An asymmetric encryption uses two keys, one that encrypts the message and one that decrypts the message. This is the cornerstone of public key cryptography. A message consists of two keys, one public and one private. In this case, the keys work together to allow a specific person to unlock a message without knowing the actual encryption key.
