What types of encryption are there? (2024)

FAQs

What types of encryption are there? ›

There are two types of encryption in widespread use today: symmetric and asymmetric encryption. The name derives from whether or not the same key is used for encryption and decryption.

There are different types of encryption techniques, but the following three are the most common and widely used: Symmetric Encryption, Asymmetric Encryption, and Hashing.

Better Encryption Options

Elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC) uses points on an ellipse to provide strong encryption with key sizes starting at 192-bits (default is 256 bits). Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) encryption uses large prime numbers as encryption keys that range between 512 and 4096 bits.

AES 256-bit encryption is the strongest and most robust encryption standard that is commercially available today. While it is theoretically true that AES 256-bit encryption is harder to crack than AES 128-bit encryption, AES 128-bit encryption has never been cracked.

The main components of an encryption system are: (1) plaintext (not encrypted message), (2) encryption algorithm (works like a locking mechanism to a safe), (3) key (works like the safe's combination), and (4) ciphertext (produced from plaintext message by encryption key).

For example, Electronic Code Book (ECB) mode is the simplest mode of operation. With ECB, each block is encrypted completely independently. The downside of this is that blocks with the same plaintext produce the same ciphertext.

The DES (Data Encryption Standard) family is a symmetric block cipher. It was designed to handle only 56-bit keys which is not enough for modern computing power. It is now considered to be weak encryption. The triple DES family improves on the original DES (Data Encryption Standard) by using 3 separate 56-bit keys.

Public key encryption is fast becoming the most widely used type of encryption because there are no issues to deal with concerning distribution of keys. PGP involves only private key encryption. The most widely used symmetric key algorithm is Advanced Encryption Standard.

Although hybrid systems do exist (such as the SSL internet protocols), most encryption techniques fall into one of three main categories: symmetric cryptography algorithms, asymmetric cryptography algorithms or hash functions.

What are the basics of encryption? ›

How encryption works. Encryption works by encoding “plaintext” into “ciphertext,” typically through the use of cryptographic mathematical models known as algorithms. To decode the data back to plaintext requires the use of a decryption key, a string of numbers or a password also created by an algorithm.

Some of the most common encryption methods include AES, RC4, DES, 3DES, RC5, RC6, etc. Out of these algorithms, DES and AES algorithms are the best known. While we can't cover all of the different types of encryption algorithms, let's have a look at three of the most common.

Yahoo Mail

Yahoo Mail has historically been one of the most hacked email providers. In 2013, Yahoo experienced one of the largest data breaches in history, affecting all three billion of its user accounts. The breach included names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, and encrypted passwords.

Security: Asymmetric encryption is considered more secure due to the use of two separate keys, making it harder for attackers to compromise the system. However, symmetric encryption can still provide strong security when implemented correctly with strong key management practices.

Information. You can enable strong, reversible 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) password encryption, also known as type-6 encryption. To start using type-6 encryption, you must enable the AES password encryption feature and configure a master encryption key, which is used to encrypt and decrypt passwords.

A stream cipher is designed based on the only completely unbreakable encryption algorithm: the one-time pad (OTP). The OTP takes a random secret key the same length as the plaintext and exclusive-ors (XORs) each bit of the plaintext and key together to produce the ciphertext as shown in the image above.