In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information (referred to as plaintext) using an algorithm (called a cipher) to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information (in cryptography, referred to as ciphertext). The reverse process, i.e., to make the encrypted information readable again, is referred to as decryption (i.e., to make it unencrypted).^{[citation needed]}

In many contexts, the word encryption may also implicitly refer to the reverse process, decryption e.g. “software for encryption” can typically also perform decryption.^{[citation needed]}

Encryption has long been used by militaries and governments to facilitate secret communication. It is now commonly used in protecting information within many kinds of civilian systems. For example, the Computer Security Institute reported that in 2007, 71% of companies surveyed utilized encryption for some of their data in transit, and 53% utilized encryption for some of their data in storage.^[1] Encryption can be used to protect data "at rest", such as files on computers and storage devices (e.g. USB flash drives). In recent years there have been numerous reports of confidential data such as customers' personal records being exposed through loss or theft of laptops or backup drives. Encrypting such files at rest helps protect them should physical security measures fail. Digital rights management systems which prevent unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted material and protect software against reverse engineering (see also copy protection) are another somewhat different example of using encryption on data at rest.^{[citation needed]}

Encryption is also used to protect data in transit, for example data being transferred via networks (e.g. the Internet, e-commerce), mobile telephones, wireless microphones, wireless intercom systems, Bluetooth devices and bank automatic teller machines. There have been numerous reports of data in transit being intercepted in recent years.^[2] Encrypting data in transit also helps to secure it as it is often difficult to physically secure all access to networks.^{[citation needed]}

Encryption, by itself, can protect the confidentiality of messages, but other techniques are still needed to protect the integrity and authenticity of a message; for example, verification of a message authentication code (MAC) or a digital signature. Standards and cryptographic software and hardware to perform encryption are widely available, but successfully using encryption to ensure security may be a challenging problem. A single slip-up in system design or execution can allow successful attacks. Sometimes an adversary can obtain unencrypted information without directly undoing the encryption. See, e.g., traffic analysis, TEMPEST, or Trojan horse.^{[citation needed]}

One of the earliest public key encryption applications was called Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). It was written in 1991 by Phil Zimmermann and was purchased by Symantec in 2010.^[3]

Digital signature and encryption must be applied at message creation time (i.e. on the same device it has been composed) to avoid tampering. Otherwise any node between the sender and the encryption agent could potentially tamper it.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

Cryptography portal

• Brute-force attack
• Cipher
• Cold boot attack
• Cryptography
• Cyberspace Electronic Security Act (in the US)
• Disk encryption
• Encryption software
• Key
• Key management

Notes[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2011)

References[link]

• Helen Fouché Gaines, “Cryptanalysis”, 1939, Dover. ISBN 0-486-20097-3
• David Kahn, The Codebreakers - The Story of Secret Writing (ISBN 0-684-83130-9) (1967)
• Abraham Sinkov, Elementary Cryptanalysis: A Mathematical Approach, Mathematical Association of America, 1966. ISBN 0-88385-622-0

External links[link]

Look up encryption in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• SecurityDocs Resource for encryption whitepapers

Dan Boneh
Dan Boneh
Born	Israel -
Residence	U.S
Fields	Cryptography
Institutions	Stanford University
Alma mater	Princeton, 1996
Doctoral advisor	Richard J. Lipton
Known for	pairing-based cryptography
Notable awards	Packard Award Alfred P. Sloan Award Terman Award RSA Award

Dan Boneh ( /boʊˈneɪ/; Hebrew: דן בונה‎) is a Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He is a well-known researcher in the areas of applied cryptography and computer security.

Education[link]

Born in Israel in 1969, Boneh obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University in 1996 (under the supervision of Richard J. Lipton).

Research[link]

Boneh is one of the principal contributors to the development of pairing-based cryptography from the Weil Pairing, along with Dr. Matt Franklin of the University of California at Davis.

Cryptography[link]

Some of his notable achievements in cryptography include:

• 2010 He was involved in designing tcpcrypt, TCP extensions for transport-level security^[1][2]
• 2005 The first broadcast encryption system with full collusion resistance (with Craig Gentry and Brent Waters)
• 2003 A timing attack on OpenSSL (with David Brumley)
• 2001 An efficient identity-based encryption system (with Matt Franklin) based on the Weil pairing.^[3]
• 1999 Cryptanalysis of RSA when the private key is less than N^0.292 (with Glenn Durfee)
• 1997 Fault-based cryptanalysis of public-key systems (with Richard J. Lipton and Richard DeMillo)
• 1995 Collusion resistant fingerprinting codes for digital data (with James Shaw)
• 1995 Cryptanalysis using a DNA computer (with Christopher Dunworth and Richard J. Lipton)

Computer Security[link]

Some of his notable contributions in computer security include:

• 2007 Exposing private information by timing web applications.^[4]
• 2005 PwdHash a browser extension that transparently produces a different password for each site^[5][6]

Awards[link]

Boneh has received a number of awards, including the following:

• The Packard Award
• The Alfred P. Sloan Award
• the Terman Award
• The RSA Award

Industry[link]

In 2000, Boneh co-founded Ingrian Networks with Roy Thiele-Sardiña and Rajeev Chawla.

In 2002, Boneh co-founded Voltage Security.^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dan Boneh's Home Page
• Dan Boneh's Stanford Research Group
• Voltage Security

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