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Tuesday 19 July 2011
What is Encryption & Decryption?
Encryption is a process in which data is converted into a form which cannot be understood by unauthorized user. In encryption information (which is generally confidential) is converted into cipher-text using a special algorithm. A authorized person can only access the real contents of information by decrypting the encrypted information by using a secret key(password).
Decryption is generally the reverse process of Encryption. In this process ciphertext is converted to the real content or simply plaintext. In simple words decryption makes the encrypted information readable again.
A software for encryption can be used for encryption/decryption process which makes it very fast, easy and efficient compared to manual process of encryption.
Example:
Plaintext(unencrypted data): I love my country
<---Encryption Process--->
Ciphertext(encrypted data): d45♣422$$--k+\sadu9dsa
<---Decryption Process--->
Plaintext(decrypted data): I love my country
It is clear from above example that encryption makes data unreadable and decryption makes it readable again.
The use of encryption/decryption is as old as the art of communication. Encryption has long been used by militaries and governments to facilitate secret communication. Encryption is now commonly used in protecting information within many kinds of civilian systems. In wartime, a cipher, often incorrectly called a code was used(infact still used) to keep the enemy from obtaining the contents of transmissions. (Technically, a code is a means of representing a signal without the intent of keeping it secret; examples are Morse code and ASCII.) Simple ciphers include the substitution of letters for numbers, the rotation of letters in the alphabet, and the "scrambling" of voice signals by inverting the sideband frequencies.
Types of Encryption
There are two main types of encryption:
- Asymmetric encryption (also called public-key encryption)
- Symmetric encryption
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