Photo by on Markus Spiske Unsplash Nowadays we hear the word in almost everywhere. But what is encryption? Well, according to , encryption is: encryption Wikipedia In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding a message or information in such a way that only authorized parties can access it and those who are not authorized cannot. In another word, this means that is a method or mechanism that enables you to hide your message or data in a way that only the authorized people can access it. For instance: you want to send a message to your granny saying you love her but you don’t anyone else to read the message. In this article, I’m going to write, in an abstract and simple way, about two encryption methods: and . encryption symmetric encryption asymmetric encryption Symmetric encryption In , you use the same key for both and of your data or message. Taking the example I gave above, sending a secure message to your granny, both of you need to have the same key in order to and the messages that you may exchange with each other. symmetric encryption encryption decryption encrypt decrypt Have a look at the following image: Asymmetric encryption is quite the opposite to the as it uses not one key but a pair of keys: a one and a one. One might ask: Asymmetric encryption symmetric encryption private public Why do you need two keys? You use one to your data, which is called , and the other to the encrypted message, which is called the . encrypt public key decrypt private key When you encrypt your message using, let’s say, your granny’s public key, that same message can only be decrypted using her private key. Private keys Your , as the name states, is yours and it must be kept private, as it’s the only key that can any messaged that was with your . private key decrypt encrypted public key Public keys as, yet again, the name states, are public and thus no security is required because of it should publicly available and can be passed over the internet. The is used to a message that can only be using, as I written above, its counterpart. Public keys public key encrypt decrypted private In order to understand what I’ve written above take a look at the image below: In this article, I’ve covered the most basics of and in a very simple and abstract way. Please let me know if you have any comments or doubts that you want to share. symmetric asymmetric encryption Cheers,
