Asymmetric and symmetric encryption technologies for image file protection

¶ … Symmetric Encryption and Asymmetric Encryption Technology

On the VM (virtual machine) in the university virtual lab, there consists a folder named "c:encrypt." The folder consists of two files:

img.jpg, and "encrypt.exe -- encrypt and decrypt key."

This paper decrypts the picture to view the text hidden in the picture.

Objective of this project is to discuss the encryption technology strategy used for the software application.

Encryption Technology Strategy used for the Software Application

In the IT (information technology) environment, the symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption technology are used to encrypt and decrypt a text or message. However, the asymmetric is the encryption technology used to encrypt the text inside the img.jpg file. The asymmetric encryption uses the two keys for the asymmetric cipher, and the two keys consist of a private and public key. In essence, the public key is available for everybody where the private key is only known to the owner. In the case of img.jpg, the file is encrypted with public key, however, the private key is known only known to the owner. One of the benefits of the asymmetric cipher is that it is able to solve the problem of secure key distribution, which is one of the problems of symmetric encryption. (Delfs, & Knebl 2007).

The case of asymmetric encryption is different, anybody can use the public key to encrypt the text, however, only the owner of the file can use the private key to decrypt the text. In the case of img.jpg file, the file is encrypted with the public key because when a user runs the encrypt.exe on the file, the encrypted text will come out. The asymmetric chipper is able to solve the problem associated to scalability since everyone will require one private key and one public key in order to communicate with another person. (Katz, & Lindell, 2007). However, asymmetric encryption is quite slow compared symmetric ciphers.

The paper also discusses the symmetric encryption to enhance a greater understanding the difference between symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption. The symmetric encryption uses the same symmetric key to encrypt and decrypt a text. For example, two individuals want to keep a message a secret. The first person will use a key to encrypt the message. In essence, the original message is referred as plaintext while the encrypted text is referred as ciphertext. If the first person sends the cipher text to the second person, the same symmetric cipher will be used decrypt the text. The most widely used symmetric algorithm is the symmetric key cryptography, which is known as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The AES are three block ciphers that comprises of AES-192, AES-128, and AES-256. Each of the cipher is sufficient enough to protect a classified information. (Katz, & Lindell, 2007).

Major benefit of symmetric key is that it is possible to change the key every time two individuals exchange the key. For example, a key can be randomly generated in one session and if an attacker is able to get hold of the key, the attacker will only be able decrypt message for one session. However, if an attacker gets hold of the same key used for all sessions, the attacker will be able to decrypt all the message.

Major shortcoming of symmetric key is that all parties have to exchange the key in order to encrypt the text and decrypt the same text. The requirement makes symmetric key to face challenges in enhancing a secured key distribution. In the symmetric key, the key space is doubled when a bit is added to the cypher key. However, a longer bit can make symmetric key to be more efficient, however, longer key does not guarantee effective security because a skilled attacker can build pattern of password using a dictionary in order to launch an effective dictionary attack. The attacker will save time using this strategy because he will be able to avoid the brute force attack.

Another problem of symmetric cipher is that it is not scalable. For example, if 1000 people decide to communicate with one another, all of them will need 999 different keys to establish confidentiality and separate communication channels. In the sense, external person can grab the key when it is being transmitted. Based on the analysis of asymmetric and symmetric key, the paper discusses a better encryption algorithm out of asymmetric or symmetric.

Conclusion

The paper identifies asymmetric encryption as the technology used to protect the software application. The study also differentiates between asymmetric encryption and symmetric encryption, and analysis of the two technologies reveals that the asymmetric key encryption in more effective to secure data transmitted remotely over the internet. In the contemporary business environment, millions of businesses are transacting business electronically daily where sensitive data are being transmitted over the internet. Thus, asymmetric key technology is an effective security tool to secure data over the internet because it allows a secured distribution of data. While asymmetric encryption can be computational costly, nevertheless, it is more effective to secure data in the contemporary business environment.

Reference

Delfs, H. & Knebl, H. (2007). Symmetric-key encryption. Introduction to cryptography: principles and applications. Springer.

Katz, J. & Lindell, Y. (2007). Introduction to Modern Cryptography. CRC Press.