Encryption and Authentication

Running head: ENCRYPTION AND AUTHENTICATION
ENCRYPTION AND AUTHENTICATION
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1ENCRYPTION AND AUTHENTICATION
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Real world application in businesses.........................................................................................2
Need of investment in encryption..............................................................................................3
Encryption for business: A YouTube video...............................................................................4
Multiple choice questions..........................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................6

2ENCRYPTION AND AUTHENTICATION
Introduction
Data encryption generally involves the use of words like cipher text, plain text, public
key, private key, decryption and encryption. Plain text is the message that is needed to be
sent. Cipher text is the same message after it is encrypted by an algorithm. This process of
conversion from plain to cipher text is encryption and the reverse process is known as
decryption. The authentication or securing of data is an important part of data encryption.
Nowadays data breach has become increasingly common. For example, in 2014
Yahoo.com suffered a massive data breach due to cyber-attacks where they lost more than 3
billion user mail accounts. The user’s personal data including critical information was stolen
by hackers that ultimately led to a fall of $350 million of Yahoo’s sale price. It is one of the
biggest data breaches till date.
Real world application in businesses
Authenticating and encrypting of data is increasingly used in businesses nowadays,
mainly to secure the data that the system handles. It is also used in increasing the security of
their system and communication channels. Some fields in business where data encryption and
authentication is used are:
1. Secure communications: The most common use of data encryption can be seen in the
encryption of data sent during communications from one system to another (Applications of
Cryptography | UCL Risky Business, 2019). The most common example of such a function is
the client program and server communication. This is used in businesses dealing with web
browser and web server or email client and email server. All this type of channels exchange
important communication data and passwords between them. This can also be seen in HTTP
and HTTPS websites using padlock to secure the sites during transactions. Nowadays every
small to medium enterprises use secure communications.