Running head: CRYPTOGRAPHY AND SECURITY MECHANISMS 1
Cryptography and Security Mechanisms
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CRYPTOGRAPHY AND SECURITY MECHANISMS 2
Cryptography and Security Mechanisms
Provide an overview of cryptography, focusing on systems security issues, and mechanisms and devices to curb these issues. Also examine cryptosystems, algorithms and certificates.
Cryptography is a science that is aimed at the provision of security to information. The application of cryptography has been since time immemorial a secure means of guaranteeing security between communications. In the present world, cryptography is seen as the cornerstone of the securities of the modern world where there is tremendous hacking of the systems (Paar &
Pelzl, 2010). Cryptography is used to protect information that is contained in the open networks and that which is contained in the closed networks.
Cryptography is the science of providing security for information (Gollmann, 2010).
It has been used historically as a means of providing secure communication between individuals, government agencies, and military forces. Today, cryptography is a cornerstone of the modern security technologies used to protect information and resources on both open and closed networks.
Cryptography is a data storage method and a transmission system where data is stored in a particular form such that only the intended parties can get to read and have access to the information contained in the data. The field of cryptography has a close relational connection with disciplines such as cryptology and cryptanalysis. There are various several techniques that are used in the cryptography in the bid to hide information that is under transit. The main aim of cryptography is always to provide maximum data security to the information such that when there are two parties communicating, the information cannot be shared through by a third party.
The techniques that are used in cryptography include merging words together with images, the use microdots and other methods that guarantee the security that is in transit. To

CRYPTOGRAPHY AND SECURITY MECHANISMS 3 some extent, in the current computing systems, cryptography is in most cases associated to the scrambling of the plain text into ciphertext. Rather, it is the scrambling of the ordinary text or clear text in a process known as encryption, then converting the text back in a process known as decryption (Paar & Pelzl, 2010). People with experience in the field of cryptography are referred to as cryptographers.
Cryptography is seen to be of great help to most of the government institutions. The governments always have classified information that is very vital to the interests of the nation therefore it is very necessary that cryptography be applied in this case (Gollmann, 2010).
Such information cannot be shared by any entities that are either within or outside a country’s domain.
Cryptography has been seen as a subject of restriction in several nations. The restriction ranges from the public dissemination of the concepts used in mathematics that could aid in the development of cryptosystems to the limitations of using certain software that have been exported. However, with the technicalities and the advancements that the internet has brought, there has been the development and of course the spread of very powerful programs that are technically related to the decryption of the information under cryptography (Gollmann, 2010).
Basically, cryptography is aimed at the guarantee of the security systems. For instance, the naval base needs to protect their databases so that their tactical operations are not shared with the enemies.
Cryptosystem consists of the combination of three major elements which includes the keying information, encryption engine and the procedures for operation. When wanting to secure a data that is high value in the hard disk, it is vital when we employ a cryptosystem that is of very high-grade. A high grade cryptosystem is one where an attacker, in as much as he/she might

CRYPTOGRAPHY AND SECURITY MECHANISMS 4 have your encryption engine copy or even the operational procedure knowledge, they cannot break into your system without the keying information.
Algorithms are sets of instructions that are used to translate an input in a logical way to provide an output that has been modified depending on the programs that have been installed in the system (Szeliski, 2011).
Algorithms have a wider scope of application. In math, they are helpful in the calculation of functions from points in a given set of data. Algorithms play a very pivotal role in the file compressions and the encryption of data.
Digital certificates are the credentials that are electronically programmed and they are used in the certification of the computers, individuals, entities or even networks. They function just similarly as the driving license and passports (Szeliski, 2011). Certificates are aimed at protecting the networks and the networks such that no one accesses the system or the networks without an express authority to do so.

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References
Gollmann, D. (2010). Computer security . Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Paar, C., & Pelzl, J. (2010). Understanding cryptography: A textbook for students and practitioners . (Understanding Cryptography.) Berlin: Springer.
Szeliski, R. (2011). Computer vision: Algorithms and applications . London: Springer.