Cryptography Basics

Cryptography

practice of securing data by making it unreadable to unauthorized parties

Encryption

process of converting readable data (plain text) into unreadable data (cipher text)

Decryption

process of converting cipher text back into plain text

Authentication

process of verifying the sender of a message

Non-Repudiation

ensuring that a sender cannot deny having sent a message

Signature

cryptographic proof of identity

Hash

cryptographic function used to verify that data has not been altered

Caesar Cipher

simple encryption method that shifts letters by a fixed number

Symmetric Encryption

type of encryption where a single secret key is used for both encryption and decryption

Cryptographic Key

long sequence of bits used to encrypt or decrypt data

Asymmetric Encryption

cryptographic method that uses a pair of keys: one public and one private

Public Key

key shared with others to enable encryption

Private Key

secret key used for decryption

Cryptographic Certificate

digital document containing key attributes, such as issuer and expiration date

SSL/TLS (Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security)

protocols used to secure network communication

Multifactor Authentication (MFA)

security method requiring multiple forms of authentication

2FA (Two-Factor Authentication)

subset of MFA that requires two authentication factors

Back Door

method of bypassing encryption without the correct key