Cryptography and Computer Security

Abstract

Cryptography has been identified as a crucial concept in modern world and mainly seen in relation computing and mathematics. No doubt, the foundation of Cryptography lies in mathematical algorithms and integer factorization. However, the use of Public key has made it useful to protect information. Computer or information security is a technique that protects valuable information of an individual or organization. This paper aims to describe cryptography and computer security and investigate different aspects associated with them.

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Introduction4

Discussion5

Cryptography5

Cryptography and its Relationship with Mathematics6

Computer Security7

Importance of Computer Security in Computer Technology8

Conclusion10

References12

Cryptography and Computer Security

Introduction

The importance of security cannot be denied from the world of computing as computers are used not only in homes but many businesses and government organizations use computer to store and process their data. Computer security can be defined as a process that prevents access to information by an unauthorized user (Konheim, 2007). In fact, computer security plays an important role in detecting any access to the information by someone who is not authorized to access it. No doubt, the subject of computer or information security has received a widespread attention from hi-tech researchers and professionals as the emergence of internet has brought many security challenges to computer users as well as researchers. It can be seen that emergence of internet has provided huge number of users a platform to share their information and data (Oppliger, 2011). This means, the development of this shared platform also came with an opportunity to make unauthorized access to available information on the internet.

Further, security breach and information theft has also been a great concern of many businesses as organizations face security incidents that bring significant damage to any organization (Oppliger, 2011). It is important to understand that nature as well as design of this shared infrastructure is very complex where it becomes difficult to protect information from theft. It would not be wrong to say that every business today has concerns about its information security as companies cannot afford any security breach. In fact, every breach in security brings serious and negative outcomes to the company if trade secrets are stolen, personal information is revealed, etc. This suggests that it is an urgent need of time to realize the importance of cryptography and implement most effective security techniques and technologies in order to protect personal as well as business information (Oppliger, 2011).

Discussion

No doubt, individuals have concerns about the stealing of their personal information but businesses are now getting more serious about this issue and proliferation of business information brings negative outcomes and cause loss of information as well as decrease in credibility of the organization in public (Baltzan, 2012). In this paper, cryptography is described first and then computer security will be discussed.

Cryptography

Cryptography can be defined as an art or technique that helps companies and individuals to protect their information to be accessed by intruders. Unwanted or unauthorized users are generally identified as intruders who access information that is not supposed to be ...