Information security is of prime importance to the organization

Information security is of prime importance to the organization

Information security is of prime importance to the organization. This is because the information is relied on by various stakeholders to make decisions. The stakeholders are all individuals that are affected by the organization’s operations in a competitive environment. The paper has addressed the concept of symmetric encryption as a tool for ensuring information security. The tools entail encrypting of plaintexts to ciphertext. This is performed using various algorisms. The tool also ensures the generation of keys that are used for decrypting purpose of the message. The management of key is very paramount for the organization; this is because leakage of the key can result in information being accessed by unauthorized persons. The organization is required to ensure that if the key is compromised, they should delete such keys to aid in ensuring information security.

Symmetric encryption has been applied in generations of random numbers and in instructions such as banks. Symmetric encryptions have enabled this institution to ensure the security of their information. This is because they are highly targeted by cybercriminals as well they are prone to malware invasions. The maintenance of information security has contributed towards the attainment of the set goals of this institution in the competitive. The organization also does not operate in a vacuum but in an environment that is prone to changes. This has been evident in the external environment. The changes usually render the existing information security mechanism futile. The organization is hence required to be proactive instead of being reactive while handling information related threats. This is essential since it contributes towards the attainment of the set goals of the organizations in the competitive environment.

INTRODUCTION

Information security has become essential for all organizations across the globe. This is because of the increased incidence of cybercrime and malware invasions.

Cybercrimes are rising at a high rate, and the results of the hacking of the companies account as well as making the companies information available in the Google platform (Boskany, 2013). This is detrimental to the organization since it affects the normal operations as well as the reputation of the company. This, in return, can lower the organization’s productivity and performance of the company or even lead to company liquidation as going concern concept in the marketplace. The organization hence is embracing security measures to ensure information security such as encryptions and installation of intrusion detections software, among others. The papers hence will try to explore on symmetric encryption. Symmetric encryptions are whereby only one key is used for encryption and decryption pf electronic information. The organization or entities embracing symmetric must exchange the keys to be utilized for the decryption process. Symmetric encryption ensures the security of information between the two entities. This is essential since it guarantees the company or the entity’s success in the competitive environment (Boskany, 2013). This is because the information is relied upon for the making of informed decision i.e., both the strategic and tactical decisions.

Background

The history of cryptography entails the use of ciphers and codes to aid in protecting secrets. It began a thousand years ago. This resulted in the emergence of encryption, which entails the use of pens and papers. In the 20th century, there was the invention of electromechanical and complex mechanical machines such as Enigma rotor machines, which provided an efficient mode of encryption (Gandhi & Sekhar, 2012). The encryption hence was afterward embraced by the government to aid in the protection of the vast amount of data they contain. The encryption hence emerged of two forms that are symmetric and asymmetric encryptions. Asymmetric encryption entails the use of both private and public keys to encrypt and decrypt data (Gandhi & Sekhar, 2012). While on the other hand, symmetric encryption emphasizes the use of a single key for performing encryption and decryptions. The introduction of the two techniques was a major milestone for ensuring information security and maintenance of secrets by both the private and public sectors. Symmetric encryption has been applied by various institutions like banks to prevent identity theft and ensures customer information security. Information security is of paramount importance since it determines the ability of the company or organization to thrive in a competitive environment. The competition has been brought by external environmental changes, which poses both threats and opportunities to the organization (Gregorie, 2011). The company is required to embrace the best information security mechanism in order to capitalize on the available opportunities in the marketplace.

Body

The mains components of symmetric encryptions they include plaintexts, secret key, encryptions algorithms, ciphertexts, and decryptions algorithm. The plaintexts are the original messages that are created and are to be sent using encryption methods. The plaintext usually contains sensitive information or data that should be protected from unauthorized access. The maintenance of plaintext security is essential since it can be utilized by the competing firms to outshine the company in the company (Gregorie, 2011). This can affects the competitive edge of the company in the market or even resulting in company liquidation. Encryption algorithm focuses on converting the plaintext into an unreadable format. This is done to prevent the message from being accessed by the third party who is not authorized. The moment the plaintext is encrypted, they need a key to encrypt the messages. The encryption algorithm forms the first security of the information to be transmitted to the sender. The organization is required to have a specialist who possesses the necessary skills and expertise that are required for encryptions. This will aid in the generation of correct keys by the organizations (Jurgenson, 2014). Key is the third key element, the scrambled text usually requires a key to open it to make it readable. The key usually holds all information in all switches, as well as substitutions that are made to the plaintext. In symmetric encryptions, the key is usually bundled with the algorithm. The changes to the plain text are highly dependent on the key and vice versa. This is because both the recipient and the sender usually share the key. These parties are required to be individuals of high integrity and accountability to aid in ensuring the security of the key from any form of breach. The breach of the key can lead to access to the information by third parties, and they may use the information for their own advantages (Jurgenson, 2014). This is detrimental to the organization and can lead to an organization losing its competitive edge as well, resulting in the shifting of customers. The shifting of customers also can lead to the spread of negative word of mouth hence affecting the company reputation at the market. This is attributed to the lowering of the company profit margins as well as lowering the liquidity position of the company leading to the deterioration of the company performance in the marketplace.

The ciphertext is the text that is scrambled and which is ready to be sent to the recipients. This form of the message can look like random streams of data that cannot be read. The transmission of ciphertext ensures the maintenance of security during transmission of data and information via internet platforms (Nishioka & Komatsu, 2011). Internet platforms are prone to cyber-attacks and malware invasion, which can distort the message hence making the message meaningless. The organization also are required to ensure the maintenance of onsite backup of the plaintext before transmission. This offers an opportunity for easy retrieval of the information by the organization in case the information gets distorted during transmission. Decryption algorithm, this refers to the secret key that is used for decrypting of ciphertext (Nishioka & Komatsu, 2011). It aids in converting plaintexts i.e.; it performs the encryption reverse for the scrambled texts. The management of the organization is required to ensure the security of the secret key. This is because leakage of the key can be detrimental to the organization. This is because the information is invaluable assists for the organization that is utilized for decision making by the organizations (Purushothama, 2015). The sender and receiver should hence be held accountable for the security of the key that is utilized for decrypting purposes. The main challenges that are linked to symmetric algorithms are the exchange problems, so each and every party involved in exchange should ensure the security of all the information that is being transmitted. The adoption of symmetric encryption has contributed towards the achievement of higher performance by the organization in the competitive environment. This is because of effective decision making by the organizations. The performance of the organization is usually gauged based on the returns of the organization that the entity generates. The higher profits margin usually enables the organization to benefits forms economies of scale. This accrues as a result of the adoption of efficient production methods by the organization in a competitive environment (Purushothama, 2015). This also results in the broadening of the company market share in a competitive environment. Due to environmental changes, symmetric encryption should be implemented at all levels of management to ensure information security. This is imperative in ensuring smooth operations of the organization hence leading to yielding the desired output by the organizations. The management also should embark on the training of its staff on security matters, especially on encryptions. This is important since it will aid in imparting the staff with the necessary skills and knowledge required for the execution of their roles.

The use of symmetric encryption algorithms entails data being converted to form that cannot be comprehended by a third party who does not have the secret key for decryption purposes. The moment the message is received by the intended recipients, then it is converted to its original forms (Rao & Dutta, 2017). This prevents the accessibility of the data by an unauthorized person who can utilize the data to perform malicious activities against the company. This is detrimental since it can affect the company’s reputation as well as its competitive edge in the ever-changing environment. Symmetric keys are created using RNG. Symmetric key algorithms are the algorithms for cryptography that utilizes the same cryptographic key for enhancing the encryption and decrypt of ciphertext. The parties are hence required to have access to the key for decryption purposes. Symmetric key encryption is classified into two major categories, which include stream ciphers and block ciphers. Stream ciphers this entails data encryption as a stream instead of retaining the data to the system memory while block ciphers entail encrypting set data into blocks of electronic data, and it entails the utilization of specific secret key. When the data is being encrypted, the systems hold all the data in its memory while waiting for the completion of the forming of blocks (Rao & Dutta, 2017). Symmetric ciphers are commonly utilized to aid in achieving of cryptographic primitives than just the usual encryption. Encrypting of the message does not assure that the content of the message is not changed. Therefore a message authentication codes are usually incorporated into ciphertexts to ensure that the receiver will notice the changes in the ciphertext. Symmetric ciphers hence assist in constructions of message authentication codes. This is imperative since it ensures secure transmission of the information is within the company.

Symmetric ciphers are not used for non-repudiations purposes with the exception of involving other entities or third parties, and also, it applied to build hash functions from the block ciphers. Symmetric ciphers have been previously characterized as being susceptible to security threats such as known plain text attacks (Sasaki & Wang, 2016). Differential cryptanalysis as well as linear cryptanalysis. Great care hence is required during the construction of symmetric ciphers to aid in reducing possibilities of successful attacks. This can result in information being made available to the third party who can utilize the information to perform malicious activities. These malicious activities can have adverse effects on the organization’s operations (Sekhar & Kumari, 2016). Pseudorandom key generator is used for the generation of symmetric ciphers keys due to lack of randomness in key generators that can behave adverse effects, which can lead to cryptanalytic breaks (Sasaki & Wang, 2016). Hence the implementation of symmetric ciphers requires a high entropy.

Symmetric encryptions are among the oldest form of encryption. It is deemed to be efficient as compared to asymmetric encryption. This has resulted in symmetric encryption being utilized for bulk encryption i.e., encrypting of a large amount of data. The symmetric cryptography is applied in the following areas, payment applications such as credit card transactions (Sekhar & Kumari, 2016). This is essential since it aids in preventing identity theft and fraudulent transactions. This is has aided in minimizing cyber-attacks to the financial institution, which are highly targeted by cybercriminals. This has led towards enhancement of the customer’s loyalty and satisfaction. This is because customers are currently vigilant with regard to information security. It is also utilized to validate that the sender of the message is the original source of the messages. This is essential since it prevents unauthorized access to the information of the organizations. The tool is also utilized for generations of random numbers. Symmetric encryptions hence have eased the operations of the organization, thus enabling the companies to achieve higher returns and meeting of the shareholder’s expectation in the competitive environment. Symmetric encryption management also comes with its limitations. The greatest weakness of symmetric encryption relates to key management, and they comprise weaknesses such as key exhaustion.; symmetric encryption faces challenges whereby every use of given key leaks; hence some information can utilize by the third party or attackers to reconstruct key(Sekhar & Kumari, 2016). The remedy to this challenge or behavior includes embracing the use of key hierarchy to ensure masters key are not overused while ensuring there exists appropriate rotation of the keys that are used for encryptions of large volumes of data within the organizations. The organization is required to implement competent key management strategies. This is essential since it requires the security of the keys that are utilized for the encryption and decryption purposes within the organization. Attribution data is another key management challenges for symmetric encryptions (Yuan & Qingkuan, 2013). Symmetric keys usually lack embedded metadata that is used for the recording of information such as access control and expiry date. Full control of the uses of the key should always be established within the organization to aid in the effective management of the encryption keys within the organizations.

The protection and security of the cryptographic are essential for ensuring the effective management of data and ensuring the data is kept. The choice of wrong key management systems can affect the efforts of cryptography to enhance information protection. Human errors and scalability are common problems that are related to manual management of keys. The organization is required to computerize key management systems like the use of symmetric encryptions (Yuan & Qingkuan, 2013). Effective key management by the entity has the following benefits; risk reductions, it aids in elevating the challenge of loss of key, compromising of the key, or the misuse of the key. This contributes towards generations of high-quality keys, automating the key rotations, offer an opportunity to delete keys when they are compromised, and providing signed usage as well as audits of key logs. Effective symmetric encryption key management contributes to organization compliance. The organization is usually required to comply with international standards as well as regulations regarding data protections that involve the encryptions and key management (Yuan & Qingkuan, 2013). These standards include HIPAA, GDPR, and SOX. The efficient management of symmetric keys contributes to cost reductions for the organization. This is because it contributes towards centralizing of all operations, automating of specific operations as well as eliminating of inefficient manual processes

Conclusion

The organization and companies are usually required to embrace the best security mechanisms to ensure information security. There are many controls that are utilized to ensure information security, such as the use of firewalls and encryptions. The encryptions are usually classified into two major categories, which are symmetric and asymmetric encryptions. The papers have discussed symmetric encryption, which involves scrambling of texts into unreadable form and generating a key for opening of the messages. The end-users are required to be vigilant while handling the key to ensure its security. This is important because the information is very important for organizations. The company and organization are also required to embrace the use of firewalls and intrusion detection software. Firewalls ensure control of traffics of the external network. This is essential since it limits the access of the encrypted messages, thus ensuring the security of the messages. This is also important since it offers assurance to the company about the message being delivered to be secure. The intrusions detection software, on the other hand, ensures detection of any invasion that emanates from the external environment. This is important since it ensures the security of the information being transmitted over the online platforms. The installation of these software makes the organization vigilant and careful while disseminating the encrypted message within the organizations. The maintenance of information security is a vital determinant of organizational success and prosperity in the ever-changing environment.