Most secure encryption standards
Technically any encryption algorithm can be deciphered. But a top algorithm like AES 256, hasn’t been cracked so far. The computing power of actual computers is not enough to solve them in a reasonable time.
However, on October 23, 2019, Google’s announcement claimed to have reached quantum supremacy. This means that the threat to the traditional encryption standard is now real. Why?
Because the quantum supremacy is the point at which a quantum computer can complete a mathematical calculation that is demonstrably beyond the reach of even the most powerful supercomputer. Quantum computers are a potential threat to cybersecurity due to their extreme computing power, capable of breaking many of the cryptographic systems that are currently used.
Modern cryptography mostly employs symmetric and asymmetric methods. When symmetric and asymmetric cryptography is combined, the result is the hybrid cryptography. In the last years, we have seen the development of quantum cryptography.
It is impossible to copy data encoded in a quantum state. Any attempt to read the encoded data alters the quantum state. This fact could be used to detect eavesdropping in communications.
Symmetric encryption standard
Symmetric encryption uses the same key for both encryption and data decryption so that if two partners want to exchange a secret message, a way to transmit the decryption key must also be found.
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): AES is considered secure based on the current state of the technology and enables you to process large volumes of data quickly and efficiently. It supports 128-bit, 256-bit keys, and instead of using 64-bit blocks, the excellent standard uses larger 128-bit blocks, which are encrypted in several consecutive rounds with the help of a substitution-permutation (SPN) network.
The 128-bit key length overrides the effectiveness of brute force attacks, and ShiftRows and MixColumns operations are responsible for optimal bit mixing because ultimately, each bit depends on the key. For its simple implementation and high speed, AES is used as an encryption standard in WPA2, SSH, and IPSec, and its algorithm is used to encrypt compressed files such as 7-Zip or RAR. However, information encrypted with AES is only sure of external attacks as long as the key remains secret.
As an alternative to AES, you can also use the symmetrical algorithms MARS, RC6, Serpent, and Twofish.
Asymmetric Encryption standard
In asymmetric systems, on the other hand, each party generates its key pair, consisting of a public key and a private key.
RSA: Today considered the first scientifically published algorithm that allows the transfer of encrypted data without private key exchange. RSA only offers reliable protection against cryptographic analysis in the case of a sufficiently large key length of at least 1976 bits, because it results in extended computational operations that leave the algorithm out of the game in the encryption and decryption of large amounts of data.
RSA encryption uses an algorithm based on the multiplication of large prime numbers. RSA offers the possibility to adjust the algorithm to technological development, involving even larger cousins in the calculation of the key.
The most critical weakness of asymmetric cryptography is, as we have seen, the authentication of the interlocutors. In classic methods with the public key, this has no relation to the identity of its user, so if a third party manages to impersonate one of the interlocutors involved in encrypted communication with the help of its public key, the cryptographic system can be invalidated entirely, without the need to attack the algorithm or private key directly.
HYBRID ENCRYPTION
In hybrid cryptography, asymmetric algorithms are no longer used to encrypt user data, but to ensure the transfer of a symmetric session key on an unprotected channel. This key effectively allows you to decrypt coded text using symmetric algorithms. It will enable efficient encryption and decryption of useful data, even high volume, at high speed. Hybrid cryptography is used in the form of IPSec insecure communication over unprotected IP networks and as TLS/SSL in secure hypertext transfer protocol or HTTPS, as well as the basis for encryption standards such as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), GnuPG, and S/MIME, used in email encryption.
A typical combination of hybrid cryptography involves symmetric encryption of user data using AES and the consequent asymmetric decryption of the session key with RSA
Quantum-proof encryption (lattice-based encryption)
The US National Institute of Standards (NIST) is developing a standardized method for quantum-proof encryption. The experts think that the algorithm will be ready by 2024. Remember that the current encryption algorithms were created decades ago before the rising of quantum computing.
IBM announced in 2019 that its investigators developed a system called CRYSTALS (short for Cryptographic Suite for Algebraic Lattices) to encrypt a magnetic-tape storage drive successfully. The company plans to use the standard for its products, encrypting even cloud-based data.
CRYSTALS generates its public and private keys with a lattice-based encryption algorithm. It involves hiding an encryption key at the intersection point of a multi-dimensional lattice. The only way to find the key is to know your way through the lattice, and there’s no way to compute the path.
Quantum cryptography
This process uses photons to transmit information, but so far the methods used are not entirely quantic because the cryptographic transformation uses classical algorithms. The best-known and developed application of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution (QKD).
The quantum key distribution is apparently secure, but it is not yet practical due to transmission distance and key generation rate limitations. Symmetric cryptosystems with keys that have been distributed by means of quantum key distribution become inefficient for large networks (many users), because of the necessity for the establishment and the manipulation of many pairwise secret keys (the so-called “key-management problem”).
Yet, at the end of 2019, China claimed to have achieved the first quantum transmission of encrypted data from cosmic space to Earth, with a mobile ground station. The compact size of the station (weighing about 80 kilograms) means that it can be taken anywhere in a vehicle, and thus receive information from anywhere and at any time.
Visit our website for more information: https://utmstack.com/
