Introduction

Encryption is a crucial technique for safeguarding information by transforming it into a format that is unreadable to unauthorized individuals. It ensures that only those with the correct decryption key can access the original content. As we know there are two types of encryption, they are symmetric and asymmetric and has unique characteristics and use cases.

Symmetric Encryption

Symmetric encryption, also know as “secret key encryption,” using only one key to encrypts and decrypts data. This means the same key is required to encode and decode the data.

Example: Encrypting the phrase “Hello my friend” with the key “tgrdaouardcourty000” would produce an encrypted output like 654GFG454DSC68B4C24A8FSF231F0C141. To decrypt the message, the same key must be used.

Common symmetric encryption algorithms:

• AES (Advanced Encryption Standard): Easy and widely use and Secure.
• RC4 (Rivest Cipher 4): Suitable for streaming data.
• DES (Data Encryption Standard): An older standard, less secure compared to AES.

Table: Key Features of Symmetric Encryption

Aspect	Details
Key Usage	Single key for both encryption and decryption
Key Distribution	Requires secure exchange of the key
Performance	Generally faster and more efficient for large data
Algorithms	AES, RC4, DES

Asymmetric Encryption

Asymmetric encryption, also known as “public key encryption,” on the other hand, makes use of both a public key and a private key. While in the function private key is to use for decrypt data, and encrypt by using public key. The private key must remain confidential.

Example: To send a secure message to a friend:

1. The friend shares their public key with you.
2. You use this public key to encrypt your message.
3. Your friend uses their private key to decrypt and read the message.

For a response:

1. Your friend encrypts their reply using your public key.
2. You decrypt it using your private key.

Table: Key Features of Asymmetric Encryption

Aspect	Details
Key Usage	Public key used to  encrypt, private key  used for decryption
Key Distribution	Public keys can be shared openly; private keys remain secret.
Performance	More secure and slower than symmetric
Algorithms	RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman)

Conclusion

Symmetric encryption is efficient and straightforward but necessitates secure key management. Asymmetric encryption, while more complex and slower, enhances security by avoiding the need to share private keys. Each method has its advantages and is chosen based on specific security and performance requirements.