Cybersecurity is a crucial aspect of protecting your company and its sensitive information. In today's digital world, cyber threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated and widespread, making it essential for businesses to take proactive measures to prevent attacks.
Security 101 refers to the basic principles and practices of security. This includes protecting against threats, such as unauthorized access, malware, and other forms of cyber attack, as well as implementing measures to prevent data breaches and protect sensitive information. This can involve various tactics, such as implementing strong passwords, regularly updating software, and monitoring networks for suspicious activity. Additionally, security 101 involves developing and implementing policies and procedures to ensure the security of an organization's systems and data.
Cryptography plays a crucial role in modern cyber security. It is the practice of using complex mathematical algorithms and codes to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access and tampering.
One of the most common uses of cryptography in cyber security is to encrypt data. This means converting the data into a format that is unreadable to anyone who does not have the correct decryption key. By encrypting data, you can protect it from being accessed or modified by unauthorized parties, even if it is intercepted during transmission or stored on a vulnerable device.
Down below are a few technology to protecting your data:
1. Cipher
Cipher is a series of steps that takes plaintext to ciphertext. The cipher can then be reversed, so you can take your ciphertext back to plaintext. A cipher usually has a key to change its behavior. Another term for this is encrypting and decrypting.
A simple cipher is ROT13. Each letter is moved 13 characters forward. To undo the cipher you move 13 characters backward. The plaintext HELLO would become the ciphertext URYYB. In this case, the Cipher is ROT, and the key is 13.
2. Hash functions
A cryptographic hash function is a mathematical function that is used to generate a unique hash or value from a given input data. This function is typically used to secure data so that it cannot be altered or cracked. Cryptographic hash functions have several key characteristics, such as:
- The function must be easy to compute for any input data, but impossible to compute backwards from the hash value.
- The function must produce a unique hash for each different input data.
- The function must be resistant to attacks, so it is not easy to create an input data that produces the same hash as another input data.
Cryptographic hash functions are commonly used in various security applications, such as in password protection systems, data verification, and more.
3. Public/Private Key Cryptography
Public/Private Key Cryptography describes the type of ciphers that DTLS and SRTP uses. In this system, you have two keys, a public and private key. The public key is for encrypting messages and is safe to share. The private key is for decrypting, and should never be shared. It is the only key that can decrypt the messages encrypted with the public key.
Public and private key cryptography is a method of cryptography that uses a pair of public and private keys to secure communication. The public key is a key that is known to the public, while the private key is a key that is only known to the individual or system in question.
In public key cryptography, the public key is used to encrypt data before it is sent to the recipient. The recipient then uses their private key to unlock the encryption and read the message that was sent. By using this combination of public and private keys, the system can ensure the security of the communication between the sender and recipient, as well as ensuring that only the recipient can unlock the encryption and read the message.
4. Diffie–Hellman exchange
Diffie–Hellman exchange allows two users who have never met before to create a shared secret securely over the internet. User A can send a secret to User B without worrying about eavesdropping. This depends on the difficulty of breaking the discrete logarithm problem. You don’t need to fully understand how this works, but it helps to know this is what makes the DTLS handshake possible.
5. Pseudorandom Function
A pseudorandom function is a mathematical function that produces a random output that appears to be the result of a true random function. However, although the output appears random, a pseudorandom function can actually be predicted and quickly calculated using the appropriate key.
Pseudorandom functions are commonly used in cryptography to generate a unique and secure encryption key from a given input data. This function is also often used to generate random numbers that are useful in other security applications, such as in data shuffling or verification processes.
Pseudorandom functions have some advantages over true random functions, such as being easy to calculate and not requiring truly random input data. However, even so, pseudorandom functions still have some weaknesses, such as their output not being truly random and being able to be predicted if the key used is leaked or insecure.
6. Key Derivation Function
A key derivation function (KDF) is a mathematical function that is used to generate a cryptographic key from a given input data, such as a password or a passphrase. The KDF uses a combination of a pseudorandom function and a salt value, which is a random value that is added to the input data, to generate a secure and unique key.
The main purpose of a KDF is to make it computationally infeasible for an attacker to guess or determine the original input data, even if the attacker has access to the derived key. By using a KDF, the input data can be transformed into a key that is much stronger and more secure than the original data.
KDFs are commonly used in various security applications, such as in password protection systems and in key management systems. They are also often used in conjunction with other cryptographic techniques, such as in the key derivation process of public key cryptography.
Key Derivation is a type of Pseudorandom Function. Key Derivation is a function that is used to make a key stronger. One common pattern is key stretching.
Let’s say you are given a key that is 8 bytes. You could use a KDF to make it stronger.
7. Nonce
A nonce is a value that is only used once in a cryptographic operation. Nonces are commonly used to generate a unique and secure encryption key from a given input data. This is used so that you can get different output from the cipher, even if you are encrypting the same message multiple times.
In cryptography, nonces are typically added to the input data before it is encrypted using a pseudorandom function or a hash function. By using a nonce, the generated encryption key will be unique and unpredictable to an attacker, even if the attacker has access to the input data and the previously generated encryption key.
If you encrypt the same message 10 times, the cipher will give you the same ciphertext 10 times. By using a nonce you can get different output, while still using the same key. It is important you use a different nonce for each message! Otherwise, it negates much of the value.
Nonces are also commonly used in other security applications, such as in authentication systems, in data shuffling, and more. Nonces are typically generated randomly and are only used once, so they cannot be predicted by an attacker and cannot be used again to attack the system.
8. Message Authentication Code
A Message Authentication Code (MAC) is a verification code that is used to ensure that a message has not been altered or forged during the transmission process. MACs are typically created using a strong hash function and a secret key that is known to both the sender and recipient of the message.
In the message transmission process, the sender will use the secret key and hash function to generate the MAC of the message to be sent. The MAC is then sent along with the original message to the recipient. The recipient then verifies the message by using the same secret key and hash function to generate a new MAC from the received message. If the generated MAC matches the sent MAC, the message is considered to not have been altered or forged during transmission.
If you don’t use a MAC, an attacker could insert invalid messages. After decrypting you would just have garbage because they don’t know the key.
MACs are commonly used in security applications, such as in authentication systems, in network protocols, and more. MACs are also often used in conjunction with other cryptographic techniques, such as in the message verification process in encryption systems.
9. Key Rotation
Key Rotation is the practice of changing your key on an interval. This makes a stolen key less impactful. If a key is stolen or leaked, fewer data can be decrypted.
Overall, cryptography is a fundamental tool in the field of cyber security. It enables businesses and organizations to protect their sensitive information from unauthorized access and tampering, as well as to authenticate the identity of users and devices. By understanding and implementing cryptography, you can significantly enhance the security of your organization's systems and data.
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