What Is Cryptography and How Does It Work? | Synopsys (2024)

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What Is Cryptography and How Does It Work? | Synopsys? ›

Definition. Cryptography provides for secure communication in the presence of malicious third-parties—known as adversaries. Encryption uses an algorithm and a key to transform an input (i.e., plaintext) into an encrypted output (i.e., ciphertext).

Cryptography ensures confidentiality by encrypting sent messages using an algorithm with a key only known to the sender and recipient. A common example of this is the messaging tool WhatsApp, which encrypts conversations between people to ensure they cannot be hacked or intercepted.

Today's cryptosystems (such as TLS, Secure Shell) use both symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption, often by using asymmetric encryption to securely exchange a secret key, which is then used for symmetric encryption.

In cryptography, a key is a string of characters used within an encryption algorithm for altering data so that it appears random. Like a physical key, it locks (encrypts) data so that only someone with the right key can unlock (decrypt) it.

Cryptography blends several areas of mathematics: number theory, complexity theory, information theory, probability theory, abstract algebra, and formal analysis, among others. Few can do the science properly, and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing: inexperienced cryptographers almost always design flawed systems.

Cryptography is used everywhere in our daily lives. Each time you make an online purchase, conduct a banking transaction, or ping your email client, cryptography is working in the background. It secures all transmitted information in our IoT world, to authenticate people and devices, and devices to other devices.

What Does a Cryptographer Do? As a cryptographer, you'll help develop complex security systems using ciphers and algorithms to encrypt sensitive data and protect it from hackers, misuse, and cybercrime. This protected information can include financial, personal, business, or military data.

One of the most common use cases of cryptography is providing secure communication over the internet. Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), use cryptographic protocols to establish protected connections between web browsers and servers.

Cryptography is frequently used to validate password authenticity while also obscuring stored passwords. In this way, services can authenticate passwords without the need to keep a plain text database of all passwords which might be vulnerable to hackers.

IDEA encryption is a widely used encryption algorithm that offers strong security and fast encryption. It is a symmetric-key block cipher that operates on 64-bit blocks of data and uses a 128-bit key. IDEA encryption is widely used in secure communication, data storage, and digital signatures.

How does encryption work step by step? ›

Encryption works by encoding “plaintext” into “ciphertext,” typically through the use of cryptographic mathematical models known as algorithms. To decode the data back to plaintext requires the use of a decryption key, a string of numbers or a password also created by an algorithm.

The user is authenticated by sending to the authentication server his/her username together with a randomly challenge message that is encrypted by the secret key. Whereby, the user is considered as authenticated user if the server can match the received encrypted message using its share secret key.

Analytical Skills Cryptography professionals need to have a strong understanding of mathematical principles, such as linear algebra, number theory, and combinatorics. Professionals apply these principles when they are designing and deciphering strong encryption systems.

Broken cryptography refers to situations where encryption algorithms or other cryptographic mechanisms are implemented incorrectly or used in a way that leaves them vulnerable to attacks. This can happen due to various reasons such as flawed design, implementation errors, incorrect usage, or weak cryptographic keys.

Cryptography vs encryption: Cryptography is the science of concealing messages with a secret code. Encryption is the way to encrypt and decrypt data. The first is about studying methods to keep a message secret between two parties (like symmetric and asymmetric keys), and the second is about the process itself.

One of the simplest encryption algorithms is the Caesar cipher. It is a type of substitution cipher where each letter in the plaintext is shifted a certain number of places down the alphabet. For example, with a shift of 3, A would be replaced by D, B would become E, and so on.