Unix® System Management Primer Plus

Securing Data with Encryption

Encryption is one of the most important technologies that facilitate security on systems and on the Internet. The concept of encryption is fairly simple: scramble data such that only an authorized party can unscramble it. But encryption has a wide variety of different applications, including authentication, data security, and data integrity, all of which are critical in today's publicly accessible networks. This section defines some of the important concepts in encryption and examines how it is used in the real world.

Public Key Encryption Versus Symmetric Key Encryption

Two major forms of encryption are in use today: symmetric key encryption and public key encryption. Symmetric key encryption is the form most people ...