Homework Question on Secure Encrypted Communications
- Transmitting personal and business data and information over secure communication channels is critical. In some cases it is required, especially when personally identifiable information is being transmitted. Credit card numbers, Social Security Numbers, online purchases, business orders, and so on must all be transmitted over secure communication channels. The Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) provides the most widely used secure communications technology. PKI relies on encryption.
- Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you: Compare and contrast symmetric encryption to asymmetric encryption. PKI uses digital certificates to encrypt / decrypt data.
- Analyze the process of encrypting and decrypting data using a digital certificate.
- Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using digital certificates.
- Evaluate the challenges related to public and private key management when using PKI.
- Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment.
- Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.
- Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format
Homework Answer on Secure Encrypted Communications
Public key infrastructure (PKI) is a key component in secure encrypted communications. PKI is now widely used to authenticate users and in the encryption and decryption of secure communications (Ngo et al., 2010). These applications of PKI render it a secure environment for the creation of a wide range of electronic communications and transactions. The main components of PKI are private keys, public keys, digital certificates, and Certificate Authority (CA).
PKI requires the digital certificates in order to either encrypt or decrypt information during communications. The two types of encryption are symmetric and asymmetric encryption. In symmetric encryption, the key used to encrypt data is the same one that decrypts it. As such, the parties involved in the decryption and encryption of data should have access to the same key. Symmetric encryption is purposely utilized for its role in enhancing encryption performance (Al-Khouri, 2011).
It is important to keep the key decryption and encryption key as a secret and for this reason, key management is crucial.On the other hand, asymmetric encryption uses a different set of keys to encrypt messages from the one that decrypts them. The most popular form of asymmetric encryption is the public key encryption, of which there are two types. The message is normally encrypted using a public key, while a private key has to be used in order to decrypt the same message (Babaoglu, 2003).