Cybersecurity Encryption Systems

By: Achit Katiyar1

1International Center for AI and Cyber Security Research and Innovations, Asia University, Taiwan. Email: achitktr@gmail.com

Abstract: In today’s world, information is communicated through numerous networks, so the role of encryption systems in protecting data from unauthorized access, copying or deletion is critical. Information security has developed into a highly complex field and, therefore, encryption is one of the primary means to protect essential data from threats and unauthorized users. The article sees it fitting to compare these basics of encryption with an outline on the fundamental concepts of encryptions, classifications of encryption systems, and the usefulness of the systems in contemporary security threats.

Introduction

Cybersecurity encryption systems play a critical role protecting data in several applications sectors such as industrial control systems, healthcare, and embedded systems. Encryption is one of the most critical aspects of cybersecurity that makes data literally unreadable by anyone who does not have the right to access it. Such systems employ modern encryption methods to protect data, while at the same time, determining cyber threats in real time. Data encryption is a process that allows data access only to authorized personnel; hence, it prevents data leak and unauthorized access [1]. The increased use of internet activities during the COVID 19 pandemic has also exposed the certain weaknesses [2], [3]. In this introduction, the basic concepts of encryption, its kinds, and its importance to current cyber security models will be discussed. The following is a summary of findings on this topic.

Importance of Encryption in Cybersecurity

  • Data Protection: Security protects data from being accessed by persons not privy to it especially during online monetary transactions [4].
  • Compliance: As many different regulations demand the usage of encryption to shield information from unauthorized access, it implies that using encryption is less legal for organizations [3].

Key Principles of Encryption

  • Encryption Algorithms: These are mathematical formulas which convert plaintext to coded messages necessary for preserving confidentiality of data [5].
  • Digital Signatures and Hash Functions: Protect the data from being modified during the transmission process, guaranteeing that such changes have not occurred [6].

Even though encryption is one of the key components in data protection, it has to take into account some risks and the fact that cryptographic attacks are dynamic, which might weaken these criterions if not properly managed [7].

Types of Encryption Systems

Encryption systems can be numerous and be classified according to the key on which it works and areas of use. In this context two major types of encryption methods have been identified as follows:

  • Symmetric Encryption: Applicable to both encryption and decryption processes, and fast enough because they do not use different keys. Some of the Natural algorithms are as follows Stream and Rotary ciphers.
  1. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): An encryption standard used in most products that permits key sizes of 128, 192, and 256 bits, thus offering superior security.
  2. Data Encryption Standard (DES): DES is an older algorithm, but it was critical in history and is now mainly used since it has certain vulnerabilities which have now been changed by other improved encryption algorithms.
  • Asymmetric Encryption: Based on a pair of keys embracing public and private to facilitate secure communications, it has improved security in key exchange activities.
  1. RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman): RSA is one of the most secure encryption techniques widely used for secure data transfer mechanism through internet.
  2. Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC): ECC investigates the potential of achieving a higher security level with smaller key sizes, making it ideal for the deployment in mobile devices and resource limited devices [8].
Figure 1: Categories of Encryption Systems

Role of Encryption in Cybersecurity

Encryption is central to the practice of cybersecurity as it helps protect data from being accessed or attacked by unauthorized people. It implies the keeping of data secret, its completeness and accessibility; it constitutes the basis of contemporary network protection systems. Here are basic features of encryption in modern protection against cyber threats.

  • Data Protection and Privacy:
  1. Encryption simply converts easily understandable plain text into a format that cannot be understood by anyone else, referred to as cipher text [9].
  2. It is crucial to preserving privacy in electronic communication and especially in commerce, for instance, where it verifies transactions and encrypts data [10].
  • Mechanisms and Algorithms:
  1. Different encryption algorithms like AES and post quantum cryptography have emerged to fight complex cyber threats, however, they have a few issues like key management and computational overhead [11].
  2. Cryptographic methods are subdivided into symmetric and asymmetric key used in cryptographic systems, depending on their utility in a specific context [9].
  • Network Security Integration:
  1. Cryptology is profound to the network security models, making both private and public networks more usable and secured [12].
  2. It is used together with other securities like firewalls and IDS, thereby providing multiple barriers against cyber attackers [11].

Encryption is a profoundly effective tool for improving cybersecurity and protection but it is not perfect. Issues like the key management and others stating that encryption can be easily bypassed and hence, remain a major problem which requires an innovative and dynamic approach to the encryption techniques.

Challenges of Encryption Systems

Modern cryptography systems help maintain data security, but such systems have several problems that can reduce their efficiency. These challenges stem from technical constraints to those arising from users of the systems, and affect the security scenario.

  • Technical Limitations:
  1. Computational Demands: Encryption operations, especially those involving large numbers, are computationally intensive, which means that some of the operations taking time [13].
  2. Cloud Security: In cloud environment, the untrustworthy servers make it difficult to encrypt the data because the servers cannot process encrypted data by accessing the encryption key [14].
  • User-Related Issues:
  1. Lack of Awareness: Even though most of them have similarly low levels of network security, many of the users are unaware of such principles as proper encryption, meaning that they have easily exploitable issues like poor passwords [15].
  2. Obstacles in Law Enforcement: Encryption can be disadvantageous to criminals since authorities often have difficulties in accessing encrypted content, which would make it more challenging for them to collect data [16].
  • Vulnerabilities in Encryption:
  1. Emerging Threats: What remains a threat to current encryption methods are the constant development of hacking practices and the application of quantum computing [17].

Although encryption is a vital component of data protection, the issues demonstrated here, point to the need for constant improvement of incorporated technology to improve its use and as well, avouching improvement of technology education amongst the general population [18].

Conclusion

The fundamental building block of contemporary information security models is encryption systems that maintain the secrecy, genuineness, and accessibility of information in a global environment. Despite the progress achieved by encryption techniques in protecting sensitive information, there still exists pertinent problems in key management, performance, and confrontation with quantum computing risks. As cyber threats are continually in development, then the future of digital information will depend on further research and development on encryption.

References

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Cite As

Katiyar A. (2024) Cybersecurity Encryption Systems, Insights2Techinfo, pp.1

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