Important Cybersecurity Techniques to Know

Article Written By: Lakkshanasre Viyasarramanujam

Article Designed by: Natasha Gumpula and Lakkshanasre Viyasarramanujam

In the world of intricate security, one thing remains crucial: the power of cryptography. It's the clever work of techniques and methods that ensure that we can keep our systems and exchange of information private from attackers. So if you’re curious about learning how these digital locks work, we will learn about the importance of cryptography and the different techniques used out there in our everyday systems. 

What is Cryptography?

Cryptography is all about secure communication and how it is developed to protect information is the heart of this field. It ensures that even if data is intercepted by other parties other than the interaction between the server and the user, they cannot understand or use it. Without cryptography, cybersecurity is inexistent as it ensures to retain three primary goals of cybersecurity: confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. The process of cryptography always consists of two actions, encryption and decryption. Encryption is a way of “encoding” plaintext or readable information into ciphertext, or scrambled data, usually ensuring a mathematical formula and a key to do so. Decryption, on the other hand, is the reverse of encryption, where it “decodes” the scrambled text into normal, readable information, also using a key. 

Symmetric Key Encryption

This is the oldest and simplest form of cryptography. It uses a single, shared key to both encrypt and decrypt information. Think of it like a physical locker: the same key that locks the door is the only one that can open it. It’s often incredibly fast and efficient for large amounts of data, but at the same time, it can be easily intercepted by others as it uses a shared key for both processes. One common algorithm that uses this function is AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), widely seen in governments and banks 

(Image by Shutterstock)

Asymmetric Key Encryption

To solve the "key exchange" problem of symmetric encryption, we use Asymmetric cryptography. This involves a pair of keys: a public key (which everyone can see) and a private key (which only you keep). If someone wants to send you a secret message, they encrypt it using your public key. However, once encrypted, only your private key can unlock it. Two common algorithms using this technique are RSAfor secure browsing and ECC (elliptic curve cryptography) for mobile and IoT devices for faster computation and higher security with smaller keys. 

Hashing 

Unlike symmetric or asymmetric key encryption, hashing is more unique and complex. It only serves as a way to encrypt, but not decrypt as easily. It basically takes an input, like a password or a file, and changes it into a unique, fixed-length of characters. It maintains high integrity, as a result, because even if one character changes, the resulting “hash” will look completely different. This is most commonly used when storing passwords. For example, the websites you go on don’t necessarily store your actual password, but rather the hash. This prevents websites from knowing your actual password, but just to see if the hash of the password matches what you typed in. 

(Image by The SSL Store)

Digital Signatures 

One of the last common techniques is digital signatures, which combine hashing and asymmetric encryption to create a stronger authenticity. It ensures that a message actually came from the person who sent it and hasn’t been tempered with on its way to the receiver. The sender hashes the message and encrypts that hash with their private key. The recipient uses the sender's public key to decrypt the hash and verify it matches the message. 

In reality, many of these techniques work together to create complex systems of different pathways. Cryptography is so intricate in different ways, and thanks to its development over the years, our systems have developed unique techniques of keeping safe and secure.

Works Cited 

Beal, Vangie. “Cryptography.” Webopedia, 17 Oct. 1996, www.webopedia.com/definitions/cryptography/.

Fortinet. “What Is Cryptography? Definition, Importance, Types.” Fortinet, 2023, www.fortinet.com/resources/cyberglossary/what-is-cryptography.

Robin Materese. “Cryptography.” NIST, 30 June 2016, www.nist.gov/cryptography.

“What Is Cryptography? - Cryptography Explained - AWS.” Amazon Web Services, Inc., aws.amazon.com/what-is/cryptography/.