What Is Encryption? | Common Types of Encryptions

If the concept of encryption is new to you, this guide will help you out

One of the greatest ways to achieve optimum security online is through encryption. If the concept of encryption is new to you, this guide will help you out. Read on to understand what encryption is and the most common types of encryption.

What Is Encryption?

When you send any information or data over the internet to another person, it goes through a chain of "public" internet network devices all over the world, each operating as part of the "public" internet network.

Because your data travels over the public internet, there's a good possibility that it might be intercepted. Encryption is a term that refers to any of the processes used to secure information in today's digital world. You can use certain software/hardware like a military-grade encryption VPN to protect and secure your private data even further if need be.

In technical terms, your shared information is encrypted; it is converted into an unreadable form. The unreadable data is decoded and made readable to the specified recipient only after the person has received it at the other end. All of this is made possible by a digital "key," which I'll go through in the following section.

Encryption is a method of protecting data by preventing third parties from interfering with it. It may be carried out at any point in the data flow, not limited to one location.

Common Types Of Encryption

Triple DES

Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (or Triple-DES) is an asymmetric encryption algorithm. It's a more complicated version of a DES block cipher, which formerly required a 56-bit key.

As the name implies, TDES encrypts data using a 56-bit key three times, resulting in a 168-bit key. When encrypting the data, it employs three stages of operation:

1. Encrypt

2. Decrypt

3. Re-encrypt

Because it encrypts three times, it is considerably slower than other forms of encryption. It also encrypts data in shorter block sizes, making it simple to decrypt the data throughout the whole encryption process. As a result, there is an increased chance of data theft. It has always been the most popular and widely used encryption method. However, before various modified versions of encryptions emerged, it was the most suggested and widely utilised algorithm.

AES

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric encryption method that uses the Rijndael algorithm. It encrypts one fixed-size block at a time with a block cipher.

It can encrypt data in 128-bit or 192-bit modes, but the maximum possible key length is 256 bits. Various rounds are used to secure every bit. For example, 10 rounds are used for 128-bit encryption, whereas 12 rounds are required for 192-bit encryption.

Because it was produced by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, it is considered one of the most effective encryption algorithms. It's also one of the most secure encryptions since it uses a single private key.

RSA

RSA encryption is a symmetric algorithm that uses two keys:

• Public key for encryption
• Private key for decryption

AES is the most widely used symmetric encryption algorithm and works on a 1024-bit key length. It can, however, use a 2048-bit key length. This implies that the longer the key size, the more slowly encryption proceeds.

It is one of the most durable encryption types, as it uses a larger key size. It's also known to be one of the most secure encryption methods up until now because it's the most secure encryption method ever created.

RSA makes it particularly difficult for hackers to break into systems since it uses large keys.

FPE

One of the more recent encryption techniques is Format Preserving Encryption (FPE). It encrypts your data in the same way. For example, if you have encrypted your password using six letters, five digits, and four distinct characters, the resulting output will be a unique mix of formats.

In other words, if you employ this encryption method, your plain text after encryption will keep its format.