[Term of the Day]: Hybrid Encryption
Term of the Day
"Hybrid Encryption"
What is Hybrid Encryption?
Hybrid encryption is a method of encryption that incorporates both asymmetric and symmetric encryption to take the best from both of these methods to achieve enhanced security.
Both symmetric and asymmetric encryption have their own downsides. The symmetric encryption method works great for fast encryption of large data, however, it does not provide identity verification, something that’s the need of the hour when it comes to internet security. On the other hand, asymmetric encryption that works based on the public/private key pair ensures that the data is accessed by your intended recipient. However, this verification makes the encryption process painfully slow when implemented on a larger scale.
With this hybrid encryption, a secret key is generated and the data is encrypted using the newly generated key (symmetric method). The data is sent to the recipient along with the key via the public key method (asymmetric method). Recipients use their private key to decrypt the secret key, which is then used to decrypt the message.