Encryption of data in transit and data at rest Research Paper

Encryption of data in transit and data at rest - Research Paper Example Encryption in the field of computer security is a process that allows users to encode their data using a certain key or a certain algorithm. Through the use of encryption a user is able to enhance the security of his or her data. Even though encryption of data does not necessarily restrict the access of data it however does ensure that a hacker is not able to interpret encrypted data and hence use it for personal benefit. Encrypted text is usually referred to as cipher text whereas unencrypted text is referred to as plaintext. Encryption is usually made use of for two basic data types, data in transit and data at rest. Data in transit usually refers to data that is on the move, whereas data at rest refers to stored static data that is used on a few numbers of machines. Encrypting data in transit is usually carried out through the use of private and public keys. Private keys are usually made use of to encrypt the main data that is important to a particular organization or to a particular user. The sender usually makes of an encryption key that only the receiver is aware of. The receiver then makes use of the same key to decrypt the information that is provided by the sender (Salomaa, 1996). Public key on the other hand, is used to facilitate the exchange of the private key. Public key is made use of to encrypt the private key. The sender of the data asks the receiver to provide him or her for an encryption key. The key is then used by the sender to encrypt the message. Once the message is encrypted, its decryption can only be carried out by the receiver (Salomaa, 1996). When it comes to securing data at rest, there are two basic process that can be used, encryption and authentication. Encryption to data at rest can be applied at a small scale, such as to a sensitive file, or it can be applied at a large scale, for example to the complete contents of a device (Scarfone et al., 2007). The type of encryption technique that is