What Is Cryptography?
Cryptography is a term used to refer to the procedure by which people convert plain text to unintelligible text. The vice versa of this procedure also goes by the same name. The foundation of this procedure lies in ensuring that the storing and transmission of data using this means remains private. In this way, only the sender and the receiver can access and interpret the particulars, thus blocking interference from any third parties. As such, this procedure comes in handy in situations where confidentiality is the key such that nobody can understand the dispatch other than those for whom the data is intended.
Other parties cannot alter the particulars in transit and thus, this ensures that the receiver gets the data as the sender intended. These benefits make the procedure useful in situations where it is necessary to identify the parties at each end of the communication procedure.
Overview
At first, people started off these procedures with encryption. In these cases, users would encrypt dispatches which they would then send through a channel to the intended receiver. On receipt of the data, the end user would decrypt the particulars in a bid to understand the dispatch therein. Over time, other methods in which to send data in secure means came up, and encryption evolved into the cryptography that we know today.
This system relies on computer science and mathematical theories for it to be efficient to keep prying eyes at bay. The three techniques used are hash functions, public key, and symmetric key, all with their different features.
What are its benefits?
This mode of communication comes with an array of benefits, both to the sender and the receiver, and it stands as one of the best ways in which to relay sensitive particulars.
Privacy
Confidentiality is of absolute importance to many people relaying dispatches over online spaces, and the last thing that the sender wants is to have someone going through their conversations. Whether you are sending financial particulars or other sensitive data that you are not willing to have a third party see, this mode of communication ensures that the dispatch remains private from the moment you hit the send button till the receiver accepts the particulars.
Lack of alteration
There have been many cases where people have intercepted dispatches on their way to the receivers. Such interceptions make it possible for people to change the tune of the particulars and they can alter the dispatch to read what they want. As such, receivers can get data which they either cannot understand or particulars that is misleading, which can, in turn, affect communication patterns between the two parties. Lack of alteration ensures that what is intended as the dispatch gets to the desired receiver and the communication channel remains clear of any external influences.
This benefit also means that the sender cannot look back at the dispatches and deny that they originated from him/her as nobody else has access to the data.
Thanks to these benefits, this mode of communication is often used in situations where highly sensitive particulars are in play. Examples include e-commerce operations, banking cards, and device passwords.