End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) and the Web

High magnitudes of calls, status texts, photos, videos, voice messages, documents, status updates are sent by the user through different sources of web daily. All these web activities are secured by “a public key encryption system that ensures the contents of your messages, text, and even files from being understood by anyone except their intended recipients” which is called “E2EE” i.e., End-to-End Encryption to stop the information of the user from being read by anyone while in transit.

What is end-to-end encryption?

Encryption is the process by which a piece of information is scrambled and randomised using mathematical formula such that it could be deciphered only by the device it is meant for. Encryption is done using an algorithm that transforms data into random text with no meaning. This encrypted data is secured by an encryption key which unlocks the coded data and turns it back into its original form. In an end-to-end encryption, the data is encrypted on the host device and it turns back to its original form on the recipient device through an encryption key. The process works in the background, so both the sender and receiver see the information in its original form. The end-to-end encryption makes it impossible for anyone other than the sender and the receiver to read or access the data.

(Business Standard: First Published: Mon, September 28 2020. )

It is very essential to know that how “End-to-End Encryption” works and why it has become so useful for any user to secure his personal data from being hacked or stolen or misused. To understand more about its origin, it can be related with the various network nodes to be known as intermediaries which become a redistribution point of a communication endpoint.

Asymmetric cryptography also known as Public-key cryptography possesses the resolution for the inherent problem of symmetric encryption. Mathematical formulas are the base of Cryptographic algorithms which create one-way functions to generate two keys — a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption. Whereas the public keys are distributed freely, the private keys are held only by the   intended recipients

The oldest form of Encryption dating back thousands of years was to fix one  key to encrypt and decrypt data which was then termed as “Symmetric Cryptographic Encryption”.

Present Two Forms to Encrypt and Decrypt the Data

The one key system used to encrypt and decrypt the data has two forms i.e.  (i) symmetric cryptographic encryption and (ii) Asymmetric Encryption.

SYMMETRIC Vs ASYMMETRIC ENCRYPTION

Asymmetric Encryption is much secure than Symmetric Encryption.  Asymmetric Encryption use Public Key & Private key while Symmetric encryption only use one Secret key to encrypt and decrypt the message. In terms of Speed, symmetric encryption is faster compared to Asymmetric encryption.

(Source:https://www.cheapsslshop.com/blog/symmetric-vs-asymmetric-encryption-whats-the-difference/)

 

The One Key System

Image source: Hackernoon

As on date, when the whole world has completely transformed itself as “digital” one, there are now two types of Symmetric-key encryption algorithms which are named as block ciphers or stream ciphers. Both are fundamentally different in nature due to their effective data-size operations. While the block ciphers operate on fixed-length of blocks of data, the stream ciphers most generally function on individual bytes of data.

Examples of modern Symmetric key encryption algorithms include block ciphers such as Blowfish, AES, DES, Camellia, and Serpent, or stream ciphers such as FISH, RC4, QUAD, Py, and SNOW.

The Two Key System

Image source: Hackernoon

Asymmetric cryptography also known as Public-key cryptography possess the resolution for the inherent problem of symmetric encryption. Mathematical formulas are the base of Cryptographic algorithms which create one-way functions to generate two keys — a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption. Whereas the public keys are distributed freely, the private keys are held only by the intended recipients.

Practically, all network communications and data storage use the public-key cryptography to a certain extent to guarantee authenticity and non-reputability.  To understand more it in details, it can be said that asymmetric encryption is a relatively new area (when compared to symmetric encryption) which has created a platitude of internet standards including Transport Layer Security (TLS), S/MIME, PGP, and GPG.

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