This chapter gives an overview of cryptography, its requirements, concepts, application, attacks, and management using a high-level illustration. Understanding and applying cryptography and its use in preserving the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive assets as well as attacks on cryptographic systems and cryptographic standards are some of the main topics covered in this chapter.
Sensitive assets need protection from unauthorized disclosure or tampering. The sensitivity of assets is determined by confidentiality and integrity requirements and the impact of compromise on the corporation or national security. Cryptographic methods and solutions provide assurance to protect assets from compromise.
Observe the following illustration:
The following bullet points represent a brief overview of the preceding diagram. These points explain the overall structure of this chapter in a logical sequence:
- Sensitive assets require an additional level of security pertaining to confidentiality and integrity.
- Additional security requirements of confidentiality and integrity can be assured through the application of cryptographic methods.
- The fundamentals of cryptography are related to encryption and the methods of encryption.
- Various types of encryption methods are used in the cryptography domain based on their characteristics, such as the type of algorithm used, the key length, and the application.
- Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is an industry standard framework, which enables the integration of various services that are related to cryptography.
- Key management techniques are important from the perspective of cryptographic key generation, distribution, storage, validation, and destruction.
- Cryptographic key can be compromised. Compromises can be due to a weak algorithm or weak keys. Many methods of cryptanalytic attacks exist to compromise keys.
- Cryptographic standards provide tools and best practice methods to secure information and keys from cryptanalytic attacks.
The rest of this chapter covers these concepts in detail.