Hewlett-Packard Company Virtual Private Networking Concepts Guide
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Cryptographic Systems and Encryption Terminology
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Cryptographic Systems and Encryption
Cryptographic Systems and Encryption
Cryptographic Systems and Encryption
Cryptographic Systems and Encryption
Terminology Overview
Terminology Overview
Terminology Overview
Terminology Overview
When Julius Caesar sent messages to his trusted acquaintances,
he did not trust the messengers. So he replaced every A with a D,
every B with an E, and so on throughout the alphabet. This was
the beginning of cryptography. Only those who knew the "shift
by 3" rule could decipher his messages.
A cryptographic system is a method of disguising messages so
that only certain people can see through the disguise.
Cryptography is the art of creating and using cryptographic
systems.
The original message is called a plaintext. The disguised message
is called ciphertext. Encryption means any procedure to convert
plaintext into ciphertext. Decryption means any procedure to
convert ciphertext into plaintext.
The term cryptographic system refers to a set of encryption and
decryption algorithms. The algorithms are labeled and the labels
are called keys. For example, Caesar probably used "shift by n"
encryption for several different values of n. It is natural to say
that n is the key here.
Two general types of cryptographic systems exist: symmetric
cryptographic systems and asymmetric cryptographic systems.
Encryption
Encryption
Encryption
Encryption
Encryption is a mathematical operation that transforms data
from clear text to cipher text. Usually the mathematical
operation requires that a key be supplied along with the clear
text.
Encryption, therefore, can be expressed as the formula:
Cipher Text = f ( Clear Text , Ke )
In this formula, f represents some mathematical operation or
algorithm and Ke represents a key.
Decryption is the opposite of encryption, a mathematical
operation that transforms cipher text to clear text. Decryption
usually requires a key and can be expressed as the formula:
Clear Text = g ( Cipher Text , Kd )