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Cryptography Fundamentals

Learn about encryption, decryption, and cryptographic algorithms used in network security.

Cryptographic Principles

Confidentiality

Information is accessible only to authorized users

Integrity

Information remains accurate and unaltered

Authentication

Verify the identity of users and systems

Non-repudiation

Prevent denial of actions or transactions

Types of Cryptography

Symmetric Key Cryptography

Uses the same key for encryption and decryption

Examples:

  • • AES
  • • DES
  • • 3DES
  • • Blowfish

Advantages:

  • • Fast
  • • Efficient for large data

Disadvantages:

  • • Key distribution problem
  • • Key management complexity

Asymmetric Key Cryptography

Uses different keys for encryption and decryption

Examples:

  • • RSA
  • • ECC
  • • Diffie-Hellman

Advantages:

  • • Secure key exchange
  • • Digital signatures

Disadvantages:

  • • Slower than symmetric
  • • More computational overhead

Hash Functions

One-way functions that produce fixed-size output

Examples:

  • • MD5
  • • SHA-1
  • • SHA-256
  • • SHA-3

Advantages:

  • • Data integrity
  • • Password storage

Disadvantages:

  • • Not reversible
  • • Collision vulnerabilities

RSA Encryption/Decryption

Hash Function Generator

Note: This is a simplified hash function for demonstration. Real cryptographic hash functions like SHA-256 are much more complex.

Key Concepts

Encryption Process

  1. 1. Plaintext → Input message
  2. 2. Key → Secret value
  3. 3. Algorithm → Encryption method
  4. 4. Ciphertext → Encrypted output

Security Properties

  • • Computational Security
  • • Perfect Secrecy
  • • Semantic Security
  • • Forward Secrecy