Introduction
A protocol is a set of rules determining the exchange of information and messages. It can be set between two or more participants in a network. A cryptographic protocol is a protocol that performs a security-related function. It also applies encryption to the data. It is also known as security or encryption protocol.
In this article, we will learn about Cryptographic Protocols and their functioning. We will also understand how it provides security using various cryptographic mechanisms.
Cryptographic protocols
A cryptographic protocol is an abstract protocol. It is designed to provide security assurances on multiple kinds of information. It accomplishes this using cryptographic mechanisms. This protocol guides the users on how the algorithms should be used. And data structures to be used for communication with proper encryption and security.
Cryptographic protocols are very widely used in secure application-level data transfer. The significant applications of cryptographic protocols are as follows.
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Key agreement: This protocol is used for secure data transfer between two parties. Here, the encryption of data is based on a key.
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Entity authentication: This is an act of providing proper identification to a system. Authentication is a way to verify the identity and validity of the process and system.
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Non-repudiation methods: This is a unique situation. It occurs when the owner of the data is not able to claim his ownership successfully.
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Secret sharing: It refers to sharing a secret message among a group. Here, no single user can access the secret message. But the secret may be revealed when a group combines a sufficient number of shares.
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Secure multi-party computation: This is a Cryptography method for parties to compute functions. Multiple parties compute functions on their input while keeping them private.
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Symmetric encryption and message authentication: This cryptography method provides security and authentication of the message because when the data is encoded using one symmetric key, it can’t be decoded with any other symmetric key.
- Secure application-level data transport: This cryptography method provides interfaces to the applications for communicating over other networks. This protocol ensures that no third party is able to tamper with the message in any way.
Examples of Cryptographic protocols
Cryptographic protocols are very widely used on the internet. These protocols ensure secure communication under a given set of circumstances. We use a lot of cryptographic protocols in day-to-day use. Some of these are SSL/TLS and PLP. SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer protocol. TLS stands for Transport Layer Security protocol. PLP stands for Pig Latin Protocol.
SSL/TLS is a complex protocol. They are majorly used for data transfer between websites and systems. These protocols are very widely used. And they represent a trusted connection for data exchange on the internet. A website with a URL starting from https:// like https://www.codingninjas.com follows SSL protocol.
PLP is an example of a basic cryptographic protocol. It is an example of symmetric encryption. It uses the same key for encoding and decoding the data. It makes a very weak choice as a cryptographic protocol. This protocol uses the following ruleset.
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Swap the first syllabus with the end letter if the word starts with a constant.
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Add ‘-ay’ at the end of each word.
- For example, encrypting “Pig Latin” using PLP
Advantages of using Cryptographic protocols
Cryptographic protocols are widely used on the internet and secure networks. The significant benefits of this protocol include the following.
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Confidentiality: Only authorized systems or users have access to the information. For the rest, all the message is kept confidential.
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Data Integrity: It is a service that restricts unauthorized modification of the information. It includes creating, writing, or deleting information.
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Authenticity: Cryptographic protocols ensure the system's or user's identity for data transfer.
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Access control: It is a service that gives access to information to the authorized user.
- This protocol prevents any entity or user from denying previous commitment or action.