Hacker Techniques, Tools, and Incident Handling

Chapter 3. Cryptographic Concepts

IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION SECURITY, there are a handful of topics that serve as the foundation to understanding other technologies. One of these foundations is cryptography, which is a body of knowledge that deals with the protection and preservation of information. Cryptography is one of the techniques woven into the very fabric of other technologies including IP Security (IPSec), certificates, digital signatures, and many others. Common examples of cryptography in use include Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), and 802.11i (WPA2), not to mention Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), just to name a few. With a firm grasp of cryptography in hand, you can fully understand other technologies ...