ITT 300 – INTRODUCTION TO DATA COMMUNICATION AND

NETWORKING
ASSIGNMENT 1 – CRYPTOGRAPHY
NAME: KHAIRUNNISA BINTI MD ZAHIR
STUDENT’S ID: 2016699244
CLASS: KCS1105A
LECTURER’S NAME: MADAM SHAIFIZAT BINTI MANSOR
LIST OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................1
CRYPTOGRAPHY...............................................................................................................................2
Objectives Of Modern Cryptography............................................................................................2
Cryptography Techniques..............................................................................................................2
Types Of Cryptography..................................................................................................................3
Secret Key / Symmetric – Key Cryptography...........................................................................3
Public Key / Asymmetric – Key Cryptography.........................................................................4
Hash Functions............................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................6
 INTRODUCTION
Cryptography is a method use for hiding or protecting information and communications by
using code so that only those for whom the information is intended can read and process it.
The word “crypt” means hidden and the word “graphy” means writing. In computer science,
cryptography means a secure information and communication techniques that use
mathematical concepts and algorithms to transform messages in a way that are difficult to
understand.

Cryptography exist before the computer era and it is known as transposition ciphers. A
transposition ciphers is rearrange the order of letters in a message. For example, “hello
world” becomes “ehlol owrdl”. In computer era, cryptography become complex and the
encryption of data can be in the form of binary format.

Lastly, cryptography is use for cryptographic key generation and digital signing and
verification to protect data privacy, web browsing on the internet and confidential
communications such as credit card transaction and email.

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 CRYPTOGRAPHY
Objectives Of Modern Cryptography
1. Confidentiality: The message cannot be understood by anyone for whom it was
unintended.
2. Integrity: The information cannot be changed in storage or transit between sender and
intended receiver without the changes being detected.
3. Non – repudiation: The sender of the information cannot deny at a later stage his or
her intentions in the transmission of the information.
4. Authentication: The sender and receiver must confirm each other’s identity and the
destination of information.

Cryptography Techniques
Cryptography use techniques such as microdots and merging words with images to hide
information in storage or transit. However, cryptography is most associated with scrambling
plaintext or cleartext into ciphertext or non – readable data (refer to process called
encryption) then back again to plaintext (refer to process called decryption).

Figure 1.1 Process of cryptography

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Types Of Cryptography
Secret Key / Symmetric – Key Cryptography
Secret key cryptography use the same key to encrypt and decrypt the data. It creates a fixed
length of bits known as a block cipher with a secret key that the sender used to encrypt the
data and the receiver used to decrypt it. An example of secret key cryptography is Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES) that was established in November 2001 by the National Institute
Standard and Technology as a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS 197) to protect
sensitive information. It is widely used in the private sector and the standard is mandated by
the US government. The major problem with secret key cryptography is the logistical issue of
how to get the key from other without allowing access to an attacker.

Figure 1.2 Process of Secret Key Cryptography

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Public Key / Asymmetric – Key Cryptography
Public key use a pair of key (public key and private key) and it is associated with the sender
for encrypting messages and a private key that only the originator knows unless it is exposed
or decide to share it for decrypting that information. The private key are kept private by one
of the communicating parties while public key can be send openly through the network. Both
key are cryptographic inverses of each other (what one key encrypts, the other will decrypt).
An example of public key cryptography is Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm
(ECDSA) used by Bitcoin. Public Key cryptography requires extensive computation thus
making it very slow. Therefore, it is used for encrypting small pieces of data, such as secret
key rather than for the bulk of encrypted data communications.

Figure 1.2 Process of Public Key Cryptography

Hash Functions
To ensure data integrity when sending encrypted data, a hash function is use. A hash function
is designed to ensure that a file is remain unchanged. An examples of hash functions include
SHA – 1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1), SHA – 2, SHA – 3.

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 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, cryptography is importance as a security mechanism. It is used for hiding the
information so that it cannot be understood by unintended person. There are pros and cons of
cryptography. Firstly, cryptography is very useful because it can hide the data and only
intended person can understand it. However, it can be harmful to society. As for example, a
terrorist can communicate the information using encryption.

A modern cryptography is more complex than a classic cryptography. It involves an

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 REFERENCES
1. https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/cryptography
2. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/cryptography
3. https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSYKE2_6.0.0/com.ibm.java.secu
rity.component.60.doc/security-component/jsse2Docs/secretkeycryptography.html