Mastering Internet of Things

Skimming the basics of encryption

Encryption algorithms are often divided into symmetric and asymmetric ciphers. Encryption algorithms often use multiple algorithms together to achieve the expected properties. Such ciphers are called hybrid. But understanding the distinction between symmetric and asymmetric ciphers is important.

Symmetric ciphers are typically faster and have smaller keys. AES is an example of a symmetric cipher that has hardware support on most modern machines. Elliptic curve cryptography is also symmetric. These ciphers are called symmetric since both encryption and decryption use the same key. Since these ciphers often are faster, they are preferred when encrypting a large bulk of data, for example, when transferring content, ...