Jamison Cush: Cryptography is a method for protecting
information and communications through codes. The codes
ensure that only the intended receivers can read and process
the messages. "Crypt" means hidden, and "graphy" means
writing. Those that practice it are cryptographers. Modern
cryptography has four main standards. One confidentiality,
only the intended receiver can understand the information.
Two integrity, no one can change the information while it is
in storage without the change being detected. Three non
repudiation, the information creator or sender can never
deny their intent in the info's creation and transmission.
Four authentication, the sender and receiver can both
confirm each other's identity as well as the origin or
destination of the information. Cryptography techniques are
derived from mathematical concepts. They use algorithms or
rule based calculations to send messages in ways that are
hard to read. The algorithms create a cryptographic key.
They control digital signing and verification in order to
protect data privacy, internet browsing, and confidential
communications. These include emails and credit card
transactions. Modern cryptography is most often associated
with translating ordinary readable text called plain text
into encrypted unreadable text called cipher text, and then
back again to deciphered plain text. There are two types of
cryptography, single key encryption algorithms and public
key encryption algorithms. Single key or symmetric
encryption algorithms create a fixed length of bits called
block cipher. This block cipher has a secret key the creator
or center can use to encrypt the data and the receiver can
use to read it. Public key or asymmetric encryption
algorithms use a pair of keys one is a public key associated
with the creator or sender to encrypt messages, and the
other is a private key that only the data is originator
knows for decrypting information. A procedure or protocol
that meets all the standards is known as a cryptosystem
