1.4 How is cryptography applied?
Cryptography is extremely useful; there is a multitude of applications, many of which are currently in use. A typical application of cryptography is a system built out of the basic techniques. Such systems can be of various levels of complexity. Some of the more simple applications are secure communication, identification, authentication, and secret sharing. More complicated applications include systems for electronic commerce, certification, secure electronic mail, key recovery, and secure computer access.
In general, the less complex the application, the more quickly it becomes a reality. Identification and authentication schemes exist widely, while electronic commerce systems are just beginning to be established. However, there are exceptions to this rule; namely, the adoption rate may depend on the level of demand. For example, SSL-encapsulated HTTP (see Question 5.1.2) gained a lot more usage much more quickly than simpler link-layer encryption has ever achieved. The adoption rate may depend on the level of demand.
Secure communication is the most straightforward use of cryptography. Two people may communicate securely by encrypting the messages sent between them. This can be done in such a way that a third party eavesdropping may never be able to decipher the messages. While secure communication has existed for centuries, the key management problem has prevented it from becoming commonplace. Thanks to the development of public-key cryptography, the tools exist to create a large-scale network of people who can communicate securely with one another even if they had never communicated before.
Identification and Authentication
Identification and authentication are two widely used applications of cryptography. Identification is the process of verifying someone's or something's identity. For example, when withdrawing money from a bank, a teller asks to see identification (for example, a driver's license) to verify the identity of the owner of the account. This same process can be done electronically using cryptography. Every automatic teller machine (ATM) card is associated with a ``secret'' personal identification number (PIN), which binds the owner to the card and thus to the account. When the card is inserted into the ATM, the machine prompts the cardholder for the PIN. If the correct PIN is entered, the machine identifies that person as the rightful owner and grants access. Another important application of cryptography is authentication. Authentication is similar to identification, in that both allow an entity access to resources (such as an Internet account), but authentication is broader because it does not necessarily involve identifying a person or entity. Authentication merely determines whether that person or entity is authorized for whatever is in question. For more information on authentication and identification, see Question 2.2.5.
Another application of cryptography, called secret sharing, allows the trust of a secret to be distributed among a group of people. For example, in a (k, n)-threshold scheme, information about a secret is distributed in such a way that any k out of the n people (k £ n) have enough information to determine the secret, but any set of k-1 people do not. In any secret sharing scheme, there are designated sets of people whose cumulative information suffices to determine the secret. In some implementations of secret sharing schemes, each participant receives the secret after it has been generated. In other implementations, the actual secret is never made visible to the participants, although the purpose for which they sought the secret (for example, access to a building or permission to execute a process) is allowed. See Question 2.1.9 for more information on secret sharing.
Over the past few years there has been a growing amount of business conducted over the Internet - this form of business is called electronic commerce or e-commerce. E-commerce is comprised of online banking, online brokerage accounts, and Internet shopping, to name a few of the many applications. One can book plane tickets, make hotel reservations, rent a car, transfer money from one account to another, buy compact disks (CDs), clothes, books and so on all while sitting in front of a computer. However, simply entering a credit card number on the Internet leaves one open to fraud. One cryptographic solution to this problem is to encrypt the credit card number (or other private information) when it is entered online, another is to secure the entire session (see Question 5.1.2). When a computer encrypts this information and sends it out on the Internet, it is incomprehensible to a third party viewer. The web server ("Internet shopping center") receives the encrypted information, decrypts it, and proceeds with the sale without fear that the credit card number (or other personal information) slipped into the wrong hands. As more and more business is conducted over the Internet, the need for protection against fraud, theft, and corruption of vital information increases.
Another application of cryptography is certification; certification is a scheme by which trusted agents such as certifying authorities vouch for unknown agents, such as users. The trusted agents issue vouchers called certificates which each have some inherent meaning. Certification technology was developed to make identification and authentication possible on a large scale. See Question 22.214.171.124 for more information on certification.
Key recovery is a technology that allows a key to be revealed under certain circumstances without the owner of the key revealing it. This is useful for two main reasons: first of all, if a user loses or accidentally deletes his or her key, key recovery could prevent a disaster. Secondly, if a law enforcement agency wishes to eavesdrop on a suspected criminal without the suspect's knowledge (akin to a wiretap), the agency must be able to recover the key. Key recovery techniques are in use in some instances; however, the use of key recovery as a law enforcement technique is somewhat controversial. See Question 7.12 for more on key recovery.
Secure remote access is another important application of cryptography. The basic system of passwords certainly gives a level of security for secure access, but it may not be enough in some cases. For instance, passwords can be eavesdropped, forgotten, stolen, or guessed. Many products supply cryptographic methods for remote access with a higher degree of security.
Cryptography is not confined to the world of computers. Cryptography is also used in cellular (mobile) phones as a means of authentication; that is, it can be used to verify that a particular phone has the right to bill to a particular phone number. This prevents people from stealing (``cloning'') cellular phone numbers and access codes. Another application is to protect phone calls from eavesdropping using voice encryption.
Top of the page
- 1.1 What is RSA Laboratories' Frequently Asked Questions About Today's Cryptography?
- 1.2 What is cryptography?
- 1.3 What are some of the more popular techniques in cryptography?
- 1.4 How is cryptography applied?
- 1.5 What are cryptography standards?
- 1.6 What is the role of the United States government in cryptography?
- 1.7 Why is cryptography important?