Encryption algorithms
As you learned in the preceding sections, encryption has been around for many years. You also saw some classic ciphers and their pitfalls. Now, let’s focus on encryption algorithms and look at the difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryption.
Symmetric encryption
When symmetric encryption is used, the same key is used to both encrypt and decrypt data. This means that if two parties are communicating, both parties will hold an identical key that is never exposed. Hence, symmetric encryption is also known as private key encryption.
The following figure shows how symmetric encryption operates, whereby the same key is used to encrypt and decrypt the data:
Figure 3.2 – Symmetric encryption
Symmetric key encryption is used to encrypt copious amounts of data with less resource overhead. It is also faster than asymmetric encryption since it can scale easily and is used a lot in large organizations.
Symmetric...
