Encryption is essential for protecting data, with both symmetric and asymmetric methods offering unique advantages.

Algorithms for encrypting computer data come in two main varieties: symmetric and asymmetric. Each encryption type has inherent strengths and weaknesses. Symmetric algorithms convert plain-text ...

That’s why there is serious work underway to design new types of algorithms that are resistant to even the most powerful quantum computer we can imagine. What do these algorithms even do?

Symmetric algorithms are fast and well-understood, and the good news is that symmetric cryptography is not severely threatened by quantum algorithms.

A symmetric algorithm uses the same encryption and decryption keys. This model is commonly used for bulk data encryption because symmetric algorithms are fast and can be easily implemented by ...

Symmetric algorithms can be encoded and decoded with the same secret key, and that has to be shared between communication partners through a secure channel.

This uses the SHA-3 symmetric-key algorithm, which is the latest in the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) family. Maxim Integrated is the first to have a SHA3-256 secure authentication device in production.

The algorithms can be categorized in many different ways, but perhaps the most fundamental is the distinction between symmetric and asymmetric encryption.

Interestingly, the symmetric algorithms we use every day (like AES) are not terribly vulnerable to quantum algorithms. Grover’s algorithm is the one that applies.

The file data is then encrypted with a symmetric algorithm called as DESX. Encrypting File System (EFS) The key used for these kinds of symmetric encryption is called as File Encryption Key (or FEK).