Cryptographic Attacks and Defenses

Introduction

Chapter 12 introduces you to cryptography. This topic might be interesting to some of you, and others might dread the thought of it. However, there's no need to fear. Cryptography is an exciting subject. Understanding how it functions will go a long way to help you build a good security foundation. Cryptography is nothing new. It has been used by the people and cultures throughout time to protect the confidentiality and integrity of information. There has always been individuals who are intent on breaking cryptosystems. This Chapter examines both perspectives.

The Chapter starts with an overview of cryptography and discusses the two basic types. It then examines the history of cryptographic systems, symmetric and asymmetric encryption, and. the most popular types of cryptography used today, including data encryption standard (DES), triple DES (3DES), Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman (RSA), advanced encryption standard (AES), international data encryption algrothim (IDEA), and others. To get a better idea of the many ways encryption can be used, hashing, digital signatures, and certificates are reviewed. The public key infrastructure is also introduced. Finally, a review of cryptographic applications and the tools and techniques are introduced.