Introduction
Cryptography is derived from the words kryptos meaning hidden and graphein meaning writing. Cryptography is a study of methods to communicate with hidden or secret messages which could be hard to understand for others. In past, the Egyptian used Rosetta stones to send and receive messages which were not easily understandable to Egyptian people. Researchers have studied those stones for years to understand. During World War II, Nazis used a bulky machine called Enigma which created one of the most difficult codes at that time. After the internet became global, privacy became paramount for the sensitive information. The term cryptography was later adopted in computers which is used to send and receive secret messages. These secret messages are the confidential information hidden in files such as images or videos or any kind of software so that the intruders, attackers or hackers cannot read or achieve the messages. Cryptography basically uses a private key or a secret code to encrypt the messages or to decrypt the messages with the help of different algorithms.
Thesis Statement
Conventional cryptography is an old approach or an algorithm where today, we must have a more reliable and secure algorithms to protect computers, data and personal information from the intruders who can steal the information and misuse it.
Body
1. Conventional cryptography is no more reliable and secure method for the communication of the messages.
a. There are two types of conventional cryptography: Symmetric and Asymmetric. Symmetric cryptography uses a single key to encrypt and decrypt the message whereas asymmetric cryptography uses different key to encrypt and decrypt the message. Symmetric cryptography is known as private key cryptography and asymmetric cryptography is known as public key cryptography. Symmetric cryptography uses algorithms such as DES (Data Encryption Standard) and AES (Advanced Encryption System) whereas RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) is an example of asymmetric cryptography. The reasons why conventional cryptography is useless. Cryptanalysts, the people who analyze the algorithms or the people who are interested in cryptography start studying cryptography with these algorithms. These algorithms are basic and well-known that they are vulnerable to use. Knowledge of a secret key in symmetric cryptography make all receivers vulnerable.
b. There are several risks relied for not using conventional cryptography. Conventional cryptography is used to study the basic algorithms. The nature of conventional cryptography encourage the people to use cryptography and understand it; however, they create the people who wants to steal the information or misuse it. They are well-known as attackers, hackers or intruders. If the intruders know which algorithm is used to send a secret message, it becomes easier to decrypt the message. Brute-force attack in conventional cryptography is major concern because the secret key could be found easily using brute-force attack. Asymmetric cryptography is vulnerable to chosen-plain text attack.
c. There are several tools available to crack the algorithms and get the information. Each lock has a key in the whole world. It means as the algorithm created, solution of the algorithm is also created. There are several methods available to decrypt the messages such as Known-plaintext attack, Chosen-cipher text attack, Adaptive Chosen-cipher text attack, Related-key attack, Brute-force attack, Cold boot attack, coppersmith’s attack and so on. Brute-force attack is the popular method to decrypt the message which keeps on try to decrypt the message until succeed. There are several computer tools available online to purchase; some of them are freely available. For instance, Cain and Abel, Crack, daveGrohl, DSniff, RainbowCrack and so on.
d. It is apparent that conventional cryptography needs new approaches or modifications.
2. Conventional cryptography has been modified which has made the communication of messages or information more secure than ever.
a. Quantum theory has been used to improve the conventional cryptography approach. Quantum cryptography relies on physics rather than mathematics and the quantum properties such as photon. Quantum cryptography is used to solve the key distribution problem rather than transmitting useful information. It transmits photons of light through fiber optics or free space. Any attempt to monitor the photon changes its’ property as per Heisenberg’s principle which lead us to detect breach in security.
b. Steganography is referred as the method of information hiding. In cryptography, encrypted message could be recognized whereas it is hard to even recognize the message in steganography because it is hidden. Fingerprinting and watermarking are applications for steganography. DNA steganography is being used for data hiding purpose, too. It mimics the biological structure of DNA also known as DNA computing. The genetic information is stored in deoxyribonucleic acid known as DNA in cells. Speed, minimum storage and power are few of the advantages. One of the disadvantages of DNA steganography is biological errors like mutation and implementation of DNA system. According to Shiu in International Journal on New Computer Architectures and Their Applications (IJNCAA), his algorithm is robust and do not need equipped laboratory (2012). It is unfeasible to guess the sequence out of 163 million DNA sequences.
3. Modern cryptography is being useful in various fields to protect the information.
a. Cryptography is used to secure online currency which is called Crypto currency. It has been controversial topic weather crypto currency improve the monetary system or crash the world finance market. Bitcoin crypto currency presents modern monetary system as transparent, responsive and for economic needs. As Sberbank CEO Herman Gref said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) “It’s a very interesting global experiment that breaks the paradigm of currency issuance” and banning it would be a “colossal step backward” (Pronina and Kravchenko, 2014).
b. Cryptography is used in protocols to protect online information and detect malicious activities. Internet Protocol Security Standard (IPSec) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are the examples of the protocols which uses cryptography to secure the information. According to Magati, these protocols inform the users about the threats to take further protective measures (2015). It provides extra alert features which allows users to protect their information if the attackers try to breach the security.
Conclusion: The paper discusses the lacks of conventional cryptography, which can be modified using the latest advancements in technologies. It can be used as crypto currency and can be used to protect online information and so on. The latest advancements and algorithms have lead modern cryptography to become more secure and protective. Although security breaches occur often, cryptography is able to find a way to secure the confidential information.