What is Encryption in Information Security?


Data encryption is the procedure of transforming information from a readable format to a scrambled element of information. This is completed to avoid prying eyes from reading confidential information in transit. Encryption can be used to documents, files, messages, or some different form of communication over a network.

Encryption is a security approach where data is encoded and can only be accessed or decrypted by a user with the proper encryption key. Encrypted data is also called a ciphertext. It can appears scrambled or illegible to a person or entity accessing without permission.

Data Encryption is used to check malicious or negligent parties from accessing sensitive information. An important line of defense in a cybersecurity structure, encryption makes using intercepted information as complex as possible. It can be used to all types of data security needs ranging from classified government intel to personal credit card transactions.

In encryption, it is based on the type of encryption, information can be shown as several numbers, letters, or symbols. Those who operate in cryptography fields create it their job, to encrypt data or to divide codes to receive encrypted information.

Data encryption software is called as encryption algorithm or cipher. It is used to make an encryption scheme which theoretically can only be divided with high amounts of calculating power.

Encryption is an important method for individuals and organization to secure sensitive data from hacking. For instance, websites that transmit credit card and bank account numbers should continually encrypt this data to avoid identity theft and fraud. The numerical study and application of encryption is called a cryptography.

Data encryption technology secures both transmitted information and stored digital information on computer systems and the cloud. As the web has changed computing and systems have gone online, modern encryption algorithms have restored the outdated Data Encryption Standard (DES) to secure IT communications and systems.

These algorithms guard confidentiality and fuel basis security initiatives such as integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation. The algorithms first authenticate any message to check its origin, and thus check its integrity to test that its contents remained unaltered during transmission. Finally, the non-repudiation initiative avoids senders from weak legitimate activity.

There are two main types of data encryption such as symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption. In symmetric encryption, a single, private password both encrypts and decrypts information. Asymmetric encryption is also defined as publickey encryption or public-key cryptography. It needs two keys for encryption and decryption. A shared, public key encrypts the information. A private, unshared key that should remain protected decrypts the information.

Symmetric-key encryption is faster than asymmetric encryption, but before decryption can take place, it needed the sender to transfer the encryption key with the recipient. This in turn has governed to large numbers of keys for organizations to handle securely—a growing issue. For this reason, there are some data encryption services have suitable to using asymmetric algorithms.

Updated on: 14-Mar-2022

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