Network Security

Essentials

•Fifth Edition
•by William Stallings
Chapter 2
Symmetric Encryption and

Message Confidentiality
• “I have solved other ciphers of an abstruseness ten
thousand times greater. Circumstances, and a
certain bias of mind, have led me to take interest in
such riddles, and it may well be doubted whether
human ingenuity can construct an enigma of the
kind which human ingenuity may not, by proper
application, resolve.”

• —The Gold Bug, Edgar Allen Poe

• Amongst the tribes of Central Australia every
man, woman, and child has a secret or sacred
name which is bestowed by the older men upon
him or her soon after birth, and which is known
to none but the fully initiated members of the
group. This secret name is never mentioned
except upon the most solemn occasions; to utter
it in the hearing of men of another group would
be a most serious breach of tribal custom. When
mentioned at all, the name is spoken only in a
whisper, and not until the most elaborate
precautions have been taken that it shall be
heard by no one but members of the group. The
native thinks that a stranger knowing his secret
name would have special power to work him ill
by means of magic.

• —The Golden Bough, Sir James George Frazer

Some Basic Terminology

• Plaintext - original message

• Ciphertext - coded message
• Cipher - algorithm for transforming plaintext to ciphertext
• Key - info used in cipher known only to sender/receiver
• Encipher (encrypt) - converting plaintext to ciphertext
• Decipher (decrypt) - recovering ciphertext from plaintext
• Cryptography - study of encryption principles/methods
• Cryptanalysis (code breaking) - study of principles/methods of
deciphering ciphertext without knowing key
• Cryptology - field of both cryptography and cryptanalysis
Requirements

• There are two requirements for secure use of symmetric

encryption:
• A strong encryption algorithm
• Sender and receiver must have obtained copies of the secret key in a
secure fashion and must keep the key secure
• The security of symmetric encryption depends on the secrecy of
the key, not the secrecy of the algorithm
• This makes it feasible for widespread use
• Manufacturers can and have developed low-cost chip
implementations of data encryption algorithms
• These chips are widely available and incorporated into a
number of products