Frequently Asked Questions on Cryptography in IoT
What is Cryptography and why is it important?
Cryptography is a technique that is used to secure the data or the information. The prefix “crypt” means “hidden” and the suffix “graphy” means “writing”. A real-life example of cryptography is WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption which ensure that the message you send and receive should not be scrambled and readable only to you. It is important because it secure communication channels between two or more devices.
What is IoT?
IoT stands for Internet of Things. It refers to an ecosystem of physical objects with built-in sensors that can gather information from the environment. IoT aims to increase human interconnectedness by allowing individuals to interact with things.
Cryptography is further classified as?
Symmetric Encryption: Single key used for both encryption and decryption. The sender use the secret or the private key to encrypt the message during encryption (plain text to cipher text) and that same is to be used by receiver. AWS and DES are some of the example.
Hash Function: Another method of cryptography that converges numerical data to another compressed numerical value. This function emphasizes gradually increase in levels of complexity and difficulty. Bitcoin, which is the largest cryptocurrency uses a hash function to verify the transaction and secure network.
Asymmetric Encryption: Two different keys (a public key and a private key) are used to encrypt and decrypt the data. The senders use the public key to encrypt the message and it is distributable among other also. The receiver with the paired private key is the authorized person to decrypt the message. Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA) encryption is a well-known example.
Cryptography in IoT (Internet of Things)
Cryptography plays a vital role in securing information and data through the use of codes that transform the data into an unreadable format without a proper key thus preventing unauthorized access. In simple words, we can say that organizations use cryptography to secure communication channels.