Computer Science › Section E · Networking and the internet › Topic E.7
Cybersecurity: encryption and authentication
Your messages cross dozens of machines run by strangers, yet your bank details stay private and you can tell a real website from a fake. Encryption keeps data secret, hashes and signatures prove it is unchanged and genuine, and authentication checks that people are who they claim to be.
In this topic
- Why cryptography?
- Worked example: a Caesar cipher
- Key length and brute force
- Symmetric encryption
- Public-key encryption
- Certificates and certificate authorities
- Hashes and digital signatures
- Worked example: opening an HTTPS connection
- Authentication
- Looking ahead: quantum computers
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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