Advantages and Disadvantages of Cryptography

Today's networks span the globe, and data exists in the form of bits and bytes. On computer systems and open communication channels, crucial data is directly collected, analyzed, and delivered in digital format.

Due to the significant function that information plays, attackers are focusing on computer systems and open channels of communication in an effort to either acquire sensitive data or take down the essential information system.

Modern encryption offers a powerful set of methods to guarantee information access for authorized users while thwarting the adversary's malicious objectives. In this chapter, we will talk about the advantages of cryptography, its drawbacks, and its potential for the future.

Advantages of Cryptography

A crucial instrument for information security is cryptography. It offers the four most fundamental information security services:

1. Confidentiality - An encryption method can protect data and communications against unauthorized access and disclosure.
2. Authentication - Information can be safeguarded against spoofing and forgeries using cryptographic techniques like MAC and digital signatures, which are used for authentication.
3. Data Integrity - Cryptographic hash functions are essential in giving users confidence in the accuracy of their data.
4. Non-repudiation - A digital signature offers the non-repudiation service to protect against disputes that can develop if the sender refuses to acknowledge receipt of the communication.

With the help of all these essential functions provided by cryptography, it is now possible to conduct business exceedingly effectively and efficiently through networks using computer systems.

Disadvantages of Cryptography

Other challenges that affect the efficient use of information exist in addition to the four basic components of information security are as follows:

• Even an authorized user may find it challenging to access strongly encrypted, authenticated, and password-protected information at a time when access is vital for decision-making. An intrusive party may attempt to assault the network or computer system and disable it.
• Cryptography cannot guarantee high availability, one of the core components of information security. Other defense strategies are required to counter dangers like denial of service (DoS) attacks and total information system failure.
• Selective access control, another essential requirement of information security, also cannot be met by using cryptography. For the same, administrative controls and processes must be used.
• The dangers and weaknesses that result from the shoddy systems, methods, and procedures are not protected by cryptography. These require the correct design and construction of a defensive infrastructure to be installed.
• Cryptography is not free. Costs include both time and money.
  • Information processing is delayed when encryption mechanisms are added.
  • Public key infrastructure must be built up and maintained in order to employ public key cryptography, which needs substantial financial investment.
• The computational complexity of mathematical issues is the foundation for the security of cryptographic techniques. Any improvement in the mathematical solutions to these issues or in processing capacity can make a cryptographic method insecure.

Scopes and Improvements in Cryptography

Although Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) has been developed, its benefits and drawbacks are still not completely grasped. ECC enables encryption and decryption to be completed in a vastly shorter length of time, allowing for the secure transmission of more data. However, before it is approved for usage by the government, businesses, and individuals, ECC must also undergo testing and be shown to be secure.

The latest trend is quantum computing. A quantum computer stores data using a quantum superposition of several states, as opposed to contemporary computers, which use a binary format termed a "bit" in which a "1" or a "0" can only be recorded. "Quantum bits" or "qubits" are used to store these many valued states. This makes it possible to compute numbers far more quickly than conventional transistor processors-by several orders of magnitude.

A 193-digit number called RSA-640, which can be factored by 80 machines running at 2.2GHz over the course of five months, can be factored in less than seventeen seconds by a quantum computer. This helps demonstrate the strength of quantum computers. With a fully built quantum computer, calculations that would ordinarily take billions of years may be completed in a matter of hours or even minutes.

With these realities in mind, modern cryptography will need to search for computationally more challenging issues or develop whole new approaches to archive the purposes that modern encryption currently serves.