1. Encryption is a technique used to protect data by making it …………..
2. Special algorithms called …………are used to convert the data, which is plain text, to ………..text.
3. The plain text is the original data, whereas cipher text is the original data that has been transformed into an unreadable form which is not possible to ………..
4. Keys are used to …………messages into their original form.
5. Symmetric encryption uses the same key for encryption and decryption where as asymmetric encyrption uses…..
6. In public key cryptrography, each party using a public/private key encryption scheme has ………….
7. Public and private keys are related to each other - the private key can decode messages encoded by the public key and ….
8. The public key can be used to decode messages encoded by itself and the same goes for the private key.
9. To send an encrypted message to another party, the transmitter will encode the message using the …………………
10. Any receiver (not just the correct receiver) has the private key to decode the message and so anyone can decode it.
11. The 'symmetry' is caused by the fact that the messages encrypted by the public key can only be decrypted using the corresponding private key and …..
12. Symmetry with public and private keys (encryption and decryption) is what allows for digital signatures.
13. Symmetric encryption is when the key used to secure a message is used to both encrypt and decrypt a message.
14. A widely used symmetric encryption key used in the 1990s was the DES (Data encryption standard). In 1998 a powerful machine cracked the key in just three days!
15. ………………………..are often found in commercial sectors of the business world as they offer the highest forms of protection.
16. The features/advantages of assymetric key encryption include:
17. With ………………….encryption it is possible to see how certain characters are affected and decrypt the message to see the plain text.
18. Without the …………….it becomes increasibly impossible to retrieve the plain text from the cipher text (in assymetric encryption).
19. Some 'ransomware' will infect a computer with a virus, encrypt the data on a hard drive with a key, and the user would have to pay to have it 'unlocked'.
20. Generlally speaking, symmetric encryption is far more secure and reliable than asymmetric encryption.