Module 20:
CRYPTOGRAPHY
What is Cryptography?
“Cryptography” comes from the Greek words kryptos, meaning
“concealed, hidden, veiled, secret, or mysterious,” and graphia, meaning
“writing”; thus, cryptography is “the art of secret writing.”
Cryptography is the practice of concealing information by converting
plaintext (readable format) into ciphertext (unreadable format) using a key
or encryption scheme. It is the process of converting data into a scrambled
code that is encrypted and sent across a private or public network.
Cryptography protects confidential data such as email messages, chat
sessions, web transactions, personal data, corporate data, e-commerce
applications, and many other types of communication.
Types of Cryptography: ---
♦ Symmetric Encryption: Symmetric encryption (secret-key,
shared-key, and private-key) uses the same key for encryption as it
does for decryption.
▫ Use the same key for the encryption and the decryption
▫ Symmetric key either use stream cipher and block cipher
▫ Popular algorithms: AES, DES, 3DES.
♦ Asymmetric Encryption: Asymmetric encryption (public-key)
uses different encryption keys for encryption and decryption; these
keys are known as public and private keys
▫ Two keys used: public and private
▫ Public key is publicly known to everyone, issued by Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI) and use to encrypt the data
▫ Private key is a secret for the public, only known by the owner and it is
used to decrypt the data
▫ Asymmetric cryptography delivers confidentiality, integrity,
authenticity and non-repudiation
▫ Popular algorithms: RSA, DSA and Diffie-Hellman, ECDHA
▫
Ciphers: ---
Ciphers are algorithms used to encrypt or decrypt data.
Data Encryption Standard (DES) and Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES): ---
DES is a standard for data encryption that uses a secret key for both
encryption and decryption. DES uses a 64-bit secret key, of which 56 bits
are generated randomly and the other 8 bits are used for error detection.
AES: ---
Advanced encryption standard (AES) is a National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) specification for the encryption of electronic data. It
also helps to encrypt digital information such as telecommunication,
financial, and government data.
Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA): ---
Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman formulated RSA, a
public-key cryptosystem for internet encryption and authentication. RSA uses
modular arithmetic and elementary number theories to perform
computations using two large prime numbers. The RSA system is widely used
in a variety of products, platforms, and industries.
Message Digest Function: MD5 and MD6
MD2, MD4, MD5, and MD6 are message digest algorithms used in digital
signature applications to compress a document securely before the system
signs it with a private key. The algorithms can be of variable length, but the
resulting message digest always has a size of 128 bits.
How to Generate md5 Hash:
$ echo “Any text you want to generate hash” | md5sum
Message Digest Function: Secure Hashing
Algorithm (SHA)
This algorithm generates a cryptographically secure one-way hash; it was
published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as a US
Federal information Processing Standard.
SHA-1: - It produces a 160-bit digest from a message with a maximum
length of (264-1) bits, and it resembles the MD5 algorithm.
SHA-2: - It is a family of two similar hash functions with different block sizes,
namely, SHA-256, which uses 32-bit words, and SHA-512, which uses 64-
bit words.
SHA-3: - SHA-3 uses the sponge construction, in which message blocks
are XORed into the initial bits of the state, which is then invertibly
permuted.
#02 Cryptography Tools: --->>>
MD5 and MD6 Hash Calculators:
♦ MD5 Calculator
♦ HashMyFiles
♦ HashCalc
♦ MD6 Hash Generator
♦ Message Digester
♦ CrackStation
♦ Md5hashing
#03 Email Encryption: --->>>
Currently, most businesses use email as the primary source of
communication, as it is simple and easy to communicate or share
information. Emails can contain sensitive information about the organization,
such as projects, upcoming news, and financial data, which, when accessed
by the wrong person, can cause severe losses to the organization. This
section deals with email security mechanisms such as digital signature, SSL,
TLS, cryptographic toolkits, PGP, GPG, and email encryption tools.
Digital Signature: ---
♦ Digital signature uses asymmetric cryptography to simulate the
security properties of a signature in digital rather than written form.
♦ A digital signature may be further protected by encrypting the signed
email for confidentiality.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): ---
♦ SSL is an application layer protocol developed by Netscape for
managing the security of message transmission on the internet.
♦ It uses RSA asymmetric (public key) encryption to encrypt data
transferred over SSL connections
Transport Layer Security (TLS): ---
♦ TLS is a protocol to establish a secure connection between a client
and a server and ensure the privacy and integrity of information
transmission.
♦ It uses the RSA algorithm with 1024- and 2048-bit strengths.
TLS Handshake Protocol: -
It allows the client and server to authenticate each other, select an
encryption algorithm, and exchange a symmetric key prior to data exchange.
TLS Record Protocol: -
It provides secured connections with an encryption method, such as DES.
Cryptography Toolkits: ---
♦ OpenSSL
♦ Keyczar
♦ WolfSSL
♦ AES Crypto toolkit
♦ PyCrypto
♦ ccrypt
Email Encryption Tools: ---
♦ RMail
♦ Virtru
♦ ZixMail
♦ Paubox
Disk Encryption Tools: ---
♦ BitLocker Drive Encryption
♦ VeraCrypt
♦ FinalCrypt
♦ FileVault
Disk Encryption Tools for Linux: ---
♦ eCryptfs
♦ Tomb
♦ CryFS
♦ GnuPG