A+ Update Endpoint Encryption

1. Encryption

Encryption refers to algorithmic schemes that encode plain text into non-readable form or cypher text, providing privacy

Secrecy or confidentiality

Encryption is very good at keeping information a secret. Even if someone is able to steal your computer or to access an encrypted file, that person will find it extremely difficult to figure out whats in the file.

Accuracy or integrity

Encryption is also very good at ensuring the accuracy or the integrity of information.In addition to keeping information secret, certain types of encryption algorithms protect against forgery or tampering. This type of processing detects even the slightest changemalicious or inadvertentin the information. While military, intelligence, and many corporate users care a lot about secrecy, financial institutions are more concerned about accuracy: making sure that a decimal point or a zero hasnt slipped, or that an electronic embezzler hasnt rounded off a few transactions here and there. Integrity checking is also a way that network users can ensure that their communications have not been affected by viruses or other penetrations.

Authenticity

Encryption is also very good at making sure that your information is authentic, that is, that is comes from who it says it does. Certain encryption techniques let you confirm absolutely who sent a particular piece of information. This is extremely important to financial or legal transactions. An important authentication technique is a digital signature. A digital signature is unique for every transaction and is very difficult to forge.

The history of cryptography extends through the centuries from ancient Egypt to India, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece, and on into Western civilization and eventually to the dawn of the computer age.

From the Spartans to Julius Caesar, from the Old Testament ciphers to the Papal plotters of the fourteenth century, from Mary, Queen of Scots to Abraham Lincolns Civil War ciphers, cryptography has been a part of war, diplomacy, and politics.

Mary, Queen of Scots lost her life in the sixteenth century because an encrypted message she sent from prison was intercepted and deciphered.

During the Revolutionary War, Benedict Arnold used a codebook cipher to communicate with the British.

The Enigma machine worked as follows: an operator typed the original text of the first letter of the message to be encrypted on the machines keyboard-like set of buttons. The battery-powered machine encrypted the letter and,using a flashlight-type bulb, illuminated a substitute letter on a glass screen.

Each computer has a secret key (code) that it can use to encrypt a packet of information before it is sent over the network to another computer. Symmetric-key requires that you know which computers will be talking to each other so you can install the key on each one. Symmetric-key encryption is essentially the same as a secret code that each of the two computers must know in order to decode the information. The code provides the key to decoding the message.

Also known asasymmetric-keyencryption, public-key encryption uses two different keys at once -- a combination of a private key and a public key. The private key is known only to your computer, while the public key is given by your computer to any computer that wants to communicate securely with it.

To decode an encrypted message, a computer must use the public key, provided by the originating computer, and its own private key. Although a message sent from one computer to another won't be secure since the public key used for encryption is published and available to anyone, anyone who picks it up can't read it without the private key. The key pair is based on prime numbers (numbers that only have divisors of itself and one, such as 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 and so on) of long length. This makes the system extremely secure, because there is essentially an infinite number of prime numbers available, meaning there are nearly infinite possibilities for keys.

A popular implementation of public-key encryption is theSecure Sockets Layer(SSL). Originally developed by Netscape, SSL is an Internet security protocol used by Internet browsers and web servers to transmit sensitive information. SSL has become part of an overall security protocol known asTransport Layer Security

Manual encryption is a type that involves the use of encryption software. These are computer programs that encrypt various bits of information digitally. Manual encryption involves the user's participation completely. The files he wants to encrypt are chosen, and then an encryption type is chosen from a list that the security system provides. This is great for personal computers because it allows a user to encrypt personal files in a way that will suit him, thus protecting personal material on a computer.

Transparent encryption is another type of computer software encryption. It can be downloaded onto a computer to encrypt everything automatically. This is one of the most secure types of encryption available because it doesn't leave out anything that might be forgotten when using manual encryption. Every executable application and file created in the computer has an encrypted copy that can withstand power surges and protects information in case a computer is stolen.

Not all encryption is done via a computer software program. You can easily encrypt information by yourself. One of the simplest ways to do this is through symmetric encryption. Here, a letter or number coincides with another letter or number in the encryption code. You can make the code up yourself--for example, a=1, b=2 and so on. You can take any written text and substitute letters and numbers for their coded counterpart, thus encrypting the text.

Asymmetric encryption is a secure and easy way that can be used to encrypt data that you will be receiving. It is generally done electronically. A public key is given out to whomever you want or posted somewhere for the public to see. They can then encrypt information using the key and send it to you. This is often done when writing emails. However, to decipher the encrypted code, there is another key, a private one, that only one person has. This means that while any can encrypt the data with the public key, it can only be read again by whomever has the private key.

Email encryption typically uses asymmetrical encryption methods. This entails that emails that are received cannot be read by others, such as hackers who may be trying to get into an email inbox. There are two types of encryption methods used with email. The first is when a central station, such as an email provider, has the sole decision in who gets the private key to the email. This is usually given only to the user of an email address. The second type gives the user control over who gets the key. This means they can allow others to read encrypted emails with the private key they are given.

Prevent data loss using powerful encryption and strong access control

Protect a broad range of data on all devices Provide consistent protection for data on desktops, laptops, mobile devices, removable media and portable storage devices; secure a broad range of information including customer data, intellectual property, legal and financial records, and employee records.

Keep employees productive Maintain operational efficiency with transparent encryption and decryption that causes virtually no interruption to users or system performance; allow users to access, store, share and transfer data safely.

Simplify security management Implement and enforce company-wide security policies that control data encryption and user authenticationall from a central console; support compliance with internal and external security regulations.

Reduce Total Cost of Ownership Decrease security costs with an integrated, end-to-end security solution a single vendor; leverage existing systems and security products.

Seamlessly integrate with existing infrastructure Integrate with other McAfee security products and synchronize with Active Directory, LDAP, PKI, and others; support all Windows operating systems and common languages.

Creates avirtual encrypted diskwithin a file and mounts it as a real disk.

Encrypts anentire partition or storage devicesuch as USB flash drive or hard drive.

Encrypts apartition or drive where Windows is installed .

Encryption is automatic, real-time and transparent.

Parallelization and pipelining allow data to be read and written as fast as if the drive was not encrypted.

http://www.truecrypt.org/

A+ Update Endpoint Encryption

Education

encryption encryption

publickey encryption

symmetric key encryption

symmetrickey encryption

encryption type

integrity encryption

confidentiality encryption

authenticity encryption