Data compression and encryption

Unit 3 Data

What is encryption?
Data compression and encryption
Unit 3 Data

What is encryption?
• The process of turning information (e.g a message)
into a form that only intended recipient can decode,
or decrypt and read.
• The message is encoded using an agreed method or
algorithm. This is called the key. The encrypted
message is called a cipher.
Data compression and encryption
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Key vocabulary
• Encrypt – to turn information into a code so that it
cannot be ready by everyone.
• Intended recipient – the person that the message is
written for.
• Decrypt – to change encoded information
• Encode – to change information into a different form
so that it can be ready by a computer.
Data compression and encryption
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Security
• HTTP / HTTPS
• Why do online banking and
shopping websites have a
padlock symbol?
• What data is sensitive?
• How can you keep it secure?
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Encryption terminology
• Plaintext: the original message to be encrypted
• Ciphertext: the encrypted message
• Encryption: the process of converting plaintext into
ciphertext
• Key: a sequence of numbers used to encrypt or
decrypt data using a mathematical formula
• Encryption algorithm: the formula for encrypting the
plaintext
• Two inputs: plaintext and a secret key
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Encryption
• Encryption is the encoding of data so that it can no
longer be easily understood
• A simple shift cipher might encode “Box345” as
follows:
Encryption algorithm

“Box345” → → “Dqz567”
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Encryption techniques
• Private key (Symmetric encryption)
• Symmetric encryption uses a secret key which can be a
combination of letters, numbers and other characters. A single
key is used to encrypt and decrypt a message and must be given
to the recipient of your message to decrypt the data
• Public key (Asymmetric encryption)
• A private key and a public key are both needed
• Two keys are used - one to encrypt and the other to decrypt data
• This is more secure as it means that you never have to send or
reveal your decryption key
Data compression and encryption
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Caesar shift cipher

• The earliest known substitution
cipher was invented by Julius
Caesar
• Each letter is replaced by the
letter n positions
further on or
back in the
alphabet
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How it works
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q

• Key = Shift → 2
• Decode “ECDDCIG”
• Decode “DWWDFN DW GDZQ”
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Vigenere Cipher
• This cipher used polyalphabetic substitution. It is
based on substitution using multiple alphabets.
These alphabets are the 26 possible Caesar ciphers
where each alphabet is shifted cyclically to the left
producing a table.
• There are 26 rows, each matching one of the 26
possible Caesar ciphers. The first alphabet goes
from A-Z, the second from B to A, the third from C to
B, and so on until Z to A.
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Pigpen cipher
• The Pigpen Cipher is another example of a substitution cipher, but
rather than replacing each letter with another letter, the letters are
replaced by symbols.
• The encryption process is fairly straightforward, replacing each
occurrence of a letter with the designated symbol. The symbols are
assigned to the letters using the key shown below, where the letter
shown is replaced by the part of the image in which it is located.
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Rail fence cipher

• This is a simple cipher which transports the
characters following a simple rule based on a key.