COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS

Detailed explanation-1: -13.9. The main components of an encryption system are: (1) plaintext (not encrypted message), (2) encryption algorithm (works like a locking mechanism to a safe), (3) key (works like the safe’s combination), and (4) ciphertext (produced from plaintext message by encryption key).

Detailed explanation-2: -Two types of encryption algorithms can be used by the encryption key server: symmetric algorithms and asymmetric algorithms. Symmetric, or secret key encryption, uses a single key for both encryption and decryption. Symmetric key encryption is used for encrypting large amounts of data efficiently.

Detailed explanation-3: -Asymmetric encryption, also known as public-key encryption, uses two keys, a public key for encryption and a corresponding private key for decryption. The public key and private key are mathematically related so that when the public key is used for encryption, the corresponding private key must be used for decryption.

Detailed explanation-4: -Encryption is a two-way function where data is passed in as plaintext and comes out as ciphertext, which is unreadable. Since encryption is two-way, the data can be decrypted so it is readable again.