Cryptography is the science of secret writing, thes ancient art.

The first documented use of

cryptography in writing dates back to circa. Some experts argue that cryptography appeared
spontaneously sometime after writing was invented, with application ranging from diplomatic
missives to war time plans. In data and telecommunications, cryptography is necessary when
communicating over any untrusted medium, which includes just about any network, particularly
the internet. Some examples of modern cryptology include the ATM cards, computer password
and electronic commerce Hence this education writing will discuss the three main types of
cryptography and

There are five primarily functions of cryptography which are privacy/confidentiality,

Authentication, Integrity. Non repudiation, key exchange. Below are the three main types of
cryptography.

Public key and the private key as a well-guarded secret. Public key cryptography uses key for
encryption and another for description also called asymmetric encryption .Primarily used for
authentication, non- repudiation, and key exchange. Public and private key of the user are
related, it is computationally not feasible to find one from another, and this is a strength of this
scheme For example when host one need to send data to host two he obtains the public key of
host two from repository, encrypts the data and transmits. Host two uses his private key to
extract the plaintext.

The length of keys in this encryption is large hence the process of encryption decryption is lower
than secret key encryption. Processing power of computer system required to run asymmetric
algorithm higher. Public key are primarily used for authentication, non-repudiation and key
exchange. In public key one of the keys is designated the public key may be advertised as
widely as the owner wants. The other key is designated the private key and is never revealed to
another party. It’s straight forward to send messages under this scheme.

Suppose Lubanjila wants to send a message to Bob. Lubanjila encrypts some information using
bobs public key; Bob decrypts the cipher text using his private key .This method can be used to
also prove who sent the message. There are several possible approaches including a public key
structure in which are more third parties known as certificate authorities certify ownership of key
pairs .it is also known as web of trust which demutualize authentication by usually individual
endorsement of the link between user and public key pairs uses the approach as well as lockup in
the domain name system (DNS),(DKIM) system for digitally signing emails also uses this
approach .

The digital signature operates ,it is typically consists of three algorithms ,a signing algorithm
that given a message and a private key ,produces a signature ,.a signature verifying algorithm
that ,given the message public key and signature either accepts or rejects the message claim to
authenticity.

Hash functions uses a mathematical transformation to irreversibly encrypt information,

providing a digital finger print. Primarily used for message integrity. Hash functions are also
called message digests and one way encryption. Hash function use no key. You cannot take a
hash and decrypt it to find the original string that created it, despite the many web sites that claim
or suggest otherwise such as Crack station, Hashkiller.co.uks, MD5online.

Hash functions are also commonly employed by many operating systems to encrypt passwords.
Instead, a fixed length hash value is computed based upon the plaintext that makes it impossible
for either the contents or length of the plaintext to be recovered. Hash functions are typically
used to provide a digital fingerprint of a files content, often used to ensure that the file has not
been altered by an intruder or virus.

Hash functions are commonly employed by many operating system to encrypt passwords, and
provide a mechanism to ensure the integrity of a file. This generated string is unique and a one
way function, a computer hash cannot be reversed to find out other files that may generate the
same hush value. Hash functions are typically used to provide a digital fingerprint of a files
contents often used to insure that the file has been altered by an intruder, or virus .Hash functions
are also commonly employed by the operating system s to encrypt passwords.

Secret key cryptography or asymmetries cryptography employ a single key for both encryption
and decryption .The sender uses the key to encrypt the plaintext and sends the cipher text to the
receiver .The receiver applies the same key to decrypt the message and recover the plaintext.
Secret key cryptography is a system that uses pairs of keys, which may be disseminated widely
and private keys which are only known to the owner and the generations to such keys depend on
cryptography algorithm based on mathematics problem to produce one way functions that
effectively secure only one to keep the private key, this can be openly distributed without
compromising security.

Encrypting and decrypting information is also called asymmetric key encryption. Though the
keys are different, they are mathematically related to and hence, retrieving the plaintext by
decrypting cipher text is feasible. User in this system need to have a dissimilar keys, private and
public key. These keys are mathematically related meaning when one key is used for encryption
the other key can decrypt the text back to the original.

Secret keys cryptography schemes are generally categorized as either being string cyphers or
block cyphers.Stream cyphers operate on a single bit at a time and implement some form of
feedback mechanism so that the key is constantly changing. Stream cyphers come in several
flavors but two are worth mentioning here. Self-synchronizing because the decryption process
can stay synchronized with the encryption merely by knowing how far into the n-bit key stream
it is.Block cypher on the other hand because the scheme encrypts one fixed size block of data
time. In a block cypher a given plaintext block will always encrypt to the same key.

Digital signatures is a type of signature, but the only difference is that it involves the use of
mathematics pin or algorithms to sign and validate the authenticity of a document, file or
software instead of pen or paper. A digital signature is used to make sure that files sent digitally
belong to the designated sources and reaches the intended receiver in its original format without
any tempering. In simple terms a digital signature works in the same way as an envelope seal
does.

Digital signatures are based on public key infrastructure. By this mechanism, two keys are
generated a public key and private key. The private key is kept is kept by the singer and it should
be kept securely .On the other hand, the receiver must have the public key to decrypt the
message. For example a person named Vyanne wants to send an encrypted message to Michelo,
as stated above Vyanne must have a private key to sign the message digitally.

Before encrypting the message using the private key, an algorithm named’MD algorithm’
encrypts the message to be sent by Vyanne into a 128/256-bit format known as hash value. Then
Vyanne s private key encrypts the hash value .On completion of both the processes Vyannes
message is said to be digitally signed.
On one side Michelo, the digitally signed messages is decrypted with the help of the signer’s
public key. The public key decrypts the message and convert it into another hash value .The
program which is used to open the message (e.g MS word, Adobe reader etc.) compares the hash
value to the original value which was generated by Vyanne then the program will allow the
message to open up and display the message. The document has not been modified since the
signature was applied .The program will not allow the document to open if both the hash values
don’t match.

Imagine wanting to send a physically signed document from one country to another .You would
need to send the documents by means of a courier. This process involves loads of paper work
and thereby wasting invaluable time. Instead if you had just used a digital signature, the
documents could have been sent electronically in a matter of minutes

In conclusion cryptology is an indispensable tool for protecting information in computer

systems. Cryptology not only protects data from theft or alteration, but can also be used for user
authentication.
 References

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Bellared, p. (2005) introduction to modern cryptography

Daniel. (2008).protecting communication against forgery; prince park hall.

Doctorow (2007) dig user revolt over ACCS.London University.

Fredrick, h. (2013) introduction to public key cryptography,

Kurtz, j, (2010) introduction to modern cryptography; CSS, press.

Ranger, S. (2015) the undercover on the internet secret; TECH republic

Ronald T, (1990) Cryptography in Ivan lichen (Ed) hand book of theoretical computer science;
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Whale T (1994) the code for gold cryptography; university if California.