Howard Hudson - Week 7 - TCP/IP Security

Secure communication is very important. I can send an email with “Privacy Act of 1974” in the subject line, but anyone who receives (or intercepts) the email can open it and read it. However, using encryption will protect the email from prying eyes by generating an output that is only legible with decryption. Using encryption does not mean that someone cannot steal your data, but it does mean that it is unreadable unless someone has the code (a key) to decipher the data.

There are two encryption types: symmetric and asymmetric. Symmetric encryption uses a single key to encrypt and decrypt data. Asymmetric encryption uses two keys (one private key and one public key); one key is to encrypt and the other is to decrypt. Block cypher and stream cypher are subgroups of encryption. Generally speaking, a block cypher encrypts a block of data whereas a stream cypher encrypts individual bits of data. The table below identifies a few of the encryption types

Encryption
Blowfish	symmetric	block cipher
Twofish	symmetric	block cipher
3DES	symmetric	block cipher
AES	symmetric	block cipher
IDEA	symmetric	block cipher
RC4	symmetric	stream cipher
RC5	symmetric	block cipher
RC6	symmetric	block cipher
RSA	asymmetric

Hashing is also important. It is a crypto function, but is not used to encrypt the data or recreate data. Its function is to verify data integrity by producing a mathematical figure that can be verified as true. It is also called a checksum. The table below identifies a few of the hash types.

Hash
HMAC	hashing
MD5	hashing
SHA1	hashing
SHA-224	hashing
SHA-256	hashing
SHA-384	hashing
SHA-512	hashing
SHA3-224	hashing
SHA3-256	hashing
SHA3-384	hashing
SHA3-512	hashing

In addition to encryption, public key infrastructure (PKI) Certificates and digital signatures provide additional security. PKI Certificates verify the identity of a site. Comodo Certificate Authority provides a good example, “For someone shopping, only the certificate is used to allow the browser and the server to recognize each other as safe because the Certificate Authority has an embedded root certificate in the browsers that recognizes the certificate from the server” (Comodo CA Limited, N.D.). A digital signature on an email is comparable to a signet ring or a one of a kind stamp. The digital signature verifies the sender really is the sender.

Resources

Comodo CA Limited. (n.d.). A Primer On The PKI Certificate And How It Works. Retrieved January 24, 2019, from https://www.instantssl.com/articles/a-primer-on-the-pki-certificate-and-how-it-works.php

DataShield Corporation. (n.d.). 3 DIFFERENT DATA ENCRYPTION METHODS (AND WHY THEY MATTER TO YOU). Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://www.datashieldcorp.com/2013/06/04/3-different-data-encryption-methods/

Henry, J. (2018, August 3). 3DES is Officially Being Retired. Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://www.cryptomathic.com/news-events/blog/3des-is-officially-being-retired

Microsoft. (2018, April 17). Description of Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption. Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/246071/description-of-symmetric-and-asymmetric-encryption

Microsoft. (n.d.). Encrypt email messages. Retrieved January 24, 2019, from https://support.office.com/en-us/article/encrypt-email-messages-373339cb-bf1a-4509-b296-802a39d801dc

Microsoft. (n.d.). Secure messages by using a digital signature. Retrieved January 24, 2019, from https://support.office.com/en-us/article/secure-messages-by-using-a-digital-signature-549ca2f1-a68f-4366-85fa-b3f4b5856fc6

National Institute of Standards and technology. (n.d.). Publication Search. Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/sp#SP-800-57-Part 1-Rev. 4

National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2016, January 28). Recommendation for Key Management, Part 1: General[PDF]. Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://csrc.nist.gov/csrc/media/publications/sp/800-57-part-1/rev-4/final/documents/sp800-57p1r4_draft.pdf

Rouse, M. (2005, September). DEFINITION: Stream cipher. Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/stream-cipher

Rouse, M. (2006, January). DEFINITION: Block cipher. Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/block-cipher

Ssl2buy. (n.d.). Symmetric vs. Asymmetric Encryption – What are differences? Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://www.ssl2buy.com/wiki/symmetric-vs-asymmetric-encryption-what-are-differences

Stevens, P. S. (n.d.). Encryption Algorithms. Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://www.toptenreviews.com/software/articles/encryption-algorithms/

VOCAL Technologies, Ltd. (n.d.). Cryptography. Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://www.vocal.com/cryptography/