Introduction
The use of classical ciphers has been in existence since ancient Egypt. The ciphers were used to exchange sensitive information and messages between authorized parties. The ciphers have now evolved to include different security measures that are meant to ensure the security of information. Most of the ideas behind this evolution are based on the ideology that every natural language has its own dissemination characteristics. The main objective of the process of encryption is to align the numerical aspects of different encryption languages uniformly and to prevent the existence of any dependencies and correlation between cipher-text and plaintext. The system aims to recover the used key or the plaintext in the process of encryption.
Caesar Cypher
The Caesar Cypher is among the most ancient and simplest technique of encryption. It is a category of substitution cipher where every letter in a specific text or message is replaced by another latter that is some specific number of locations in the alphabetical order. For instance, with a single shift, C will be replaced by D. The technique was named so after Julius Caesar, which was the technique he used to communicate with his employees and officials. To cipher a particular message, the user must have an integer value. This value is known as the shift and shows the number of locations every letter in the message or text will be moved down in the alphabetical order. Modular arithmetic can be applied when representing the encryption method as per the series A=0, B= 1,…., 2=25.
Different and more advanced encryption techniques, for example, the Vigenere cipher technique, uses the Caesar Cypher as a comment in the encryption procedure. The commonly used ROT13 encryption technique is purely a Caesar Cypher with a single modification of 13. The Caesar Cypher offers no security in communication systems, and can be easily decoded even by the use of manual methods.
To transmit a message between two parties, it is important that both parties have the cipher ‘key’. This allows the sender to encrypt the message and the receiver to have the decryption key. In the Caesar Cypher technique, the key that is used in both encryption and decryption is the number of letters that are used to shift the cipher letters in the alphabetical order. For example, in the Caesar Cypher with a one shift, the encryption process of the following message would be
Plain text: we are going home
Ciphertext: xf bsf hmjoh gmnf
Using the -1 decryption key, the receiver will be able to decrypt the message easily. As the methods of encryption progress, the systems of decryption are also progressing. Cease Cypher, therefore, offers minimal security when applied in its original format. More advanced systems of encryption that use the Caesar Cypher are important to ensure the security of the messages transmitted through the technique.
The Kerckhoffs’s principle of Cryptosystem.
The Kerckhoffs’s principle is one of the most basic techniques that is used in the current cryptographic age. It was created at the end of the nineteenth century by Auguste, a cryptographer from Dutch. The principle has been implemented in almost all modern encryption algorithms such as AES and DESS. The algorithms are seen as extremely secure and are thoroughly examined for any security flaws. In the Kerckhoffs’s principle, the security of the message under transmission is entirely dependent on the security of the encryption key and its quality. Ensuring the secrecy of the algorithms used may also cat as a major barrier to cryptanalysis. However, this can be applied as a security measure if these algorithms are used in a limited and strict circle that ensures that the algorithm is not revealed.
Kerckhoffs’s principle works on the principle that the whole encrypted message or text including the algorithm used for encryption may be attacked by an oblivious individual or a spy, without affecting the security of the entire system. Key to this inherent safety are steps that have been implemented to ensure the safety of the encryption key, and the overall strength of the system’s design, in having the capability to adapt to unpredictable situations such as an information breach or an attack.
The Kerckhoffs’s principle is based around the belief that secrecy in its inherent nature is not a good aspect or trustable security guarantee. The actual security can only be assured if the components of the cartographic system are safely shared with eth public. The encryption method has been applied in almost all encryption techniques today. In encryption systems such as RSA or AES, the safety is built around the complexity of the used algorithms rather than in its secrecy. The secrecy that is required only involves the encryption key, which is used for receiving and transmitting the message. In an internet-connected environment, the key must be randomly generated by the web browser being used and the remote server, each time the user enters a secured webpage.
Challenges of Key Cryptosystem
Encryption is meant to ensure that unauthorized parties do not gain access to the information that is being transmitted. In this case, there will always be people who try to ensure that unauthorized parties can access the information. The protection of the encryption key has been the main cause for many organizations choosing to apply other information protection methods rather than encryption. The security of information that is being transmitted through cryptographic algorithms is entirely dependent on the security and the secrecy of the key being used.
There are two types of keys that are used in encryption, the public, and the private key. A secret key uses a similar key in the encryption and decryption of information. The user must, therefore, ensure that the used key is kept secret, ensuring that nobody else gains access to it. The public key is very effective and is extremely secure. However, it is generated from a complicated mathematical system. Due to the complexity involved in its generation, the process of decryption and encryption takes longer. In situations like this, the user has to encrypt or decrypt large sets of data or information, the public key system becomes slow and often takes longer to decode or encrypt a message.
Mist public key systems rely on third parties for their certification. For example, when a user wants to encrypt sensitive business data, the user must ensure that the computer they are sending to is entirely tied to the receiver. The third-party involved, often referred to as the certification authority, signs the public key digitally, transforming it into a digital certificate, to ensure its safety. However, if an attacker manages to compromise the third party, the attacker may use the false certifications and trick users into sending information to wrong recipients. This has been a key challenge in key cryptosystems. The full dependency on the keys to offer security for information and data has presented a key challenge for many users.