The Different Applications of Cryptography

Digital Signatures/ Authentication

Digital signatures and authentication are vital applications of public-key cryptography. For instance, if someone sends you an encrypted message, one that they have encrypted with their private key, and you can decrypt using their public key, you should be very satisfied that that message came from them.

When there is the need for the message to be private, they can encrypt it with their private key and then with your public key. This way, only you can access or read the contents of the message and will be sure that that message came from them. Authentication is one of the most crucial applications of cryptography.

Time Stamping

Timestamping is essentially giving communications or electronic documents an identity by using their time of occurrence or delivery. It is a technique used to certify communication and its delivery, as well as electronic documents.

Time stamping utilizes a model of encryption referred to as a blind signature scheme. These schemes allow a sender to receive a message that has been signed by another party. It gets done without the revelation of information about the message to the other party.

Electronic Money

It also gets referred to as digital or electronic cash. This method entails carrying out transactions electronically through a net funds transfer between parties. These transactions can become identified or anonymous and credit or debit transactions of funds. This method entails implementations in both software and hardware. Blind signature schemes are used by anonymous applications that hold back the revelation of the identity of their customers.

Secured Network Communication

Secure Socket Layer, SSL

SSL is a public-key protocol developed by Netscape. It provides layered data security between application protocols and TCP/IP. Examples of the former include FTP and HTTP, while the latter is the base on which internet-based communications get made.

What Does SSL Entail?

SSL entails support for client authentication for TCP/IP connections, message integrity, data encryption, and authentication of servers. All these can get supported by cryptography and its various applications. SSL employs a handshake protocol that undertakes authentication for each connection node, i.e., client and server. This technology also gets applied to cloud computing.