Define encryption and explain symmetric and asymmetric encryption for computer systems
What will be an ideal response?
Encryption is the process of transforming clear text into coded, unintelligible text for secure storage or communication. To encrypt a message, a computer program uses the encryption method (say AES) combined with the key (say the word "key") to convert a plaintext message (in this case the word "secret") into an encrypted message. The resulting coded message ("U2FsdGVkX1+b637aTP80u+y2WYlUbqUz2XtYcw4E8m4=") looks like gibberish. Decoding (decrypting) a message is similar; a key is applied to the coded message to recover the original text.
In symmetric encryption, the same key is used to encode and to decode the message. With asymmetric encryption, two keys are used; one key encodes the message, and the other key decodes the message.
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