SNHU 250 Information Technology Symmetric Encryption Discussion

Describe one situation where it is most appropriate to use symmetric encryption and one situation where it is most appropriate to use asymmetric encryption. Justify your choices.

In response to your peers, select one of the situations described by a peer and think about a way that you could increase the overall security measures of the situation. Use a systems thinking approach, and think outside of the box! 

Ryan Taylor posted Mar 14, 2022 10:58 AMSubscribeHowdy, In symmetric encryption the sender and receiver use a separate instance of the same key to encrypt and decrypt and the keys must be kept secret.  Due to the better performance and faster speeds symmetric encryption a good situation where it would be most appropriate would be in bulk encryption of large amounts of data.  For instance,  encryption of data at rest by using full disk encryption on hard drives or flash drives.  In asymmetric encryption uses two different keys a public key and a private key.  The public key can be known by anyone but the  private key is only know by owner.  A good situation where it would be most appropriate would be when increased security is the priority over speed and where identity verification is required.  For instance, sending emails that contain data with personal information over the internet. Cheers, Ryan References:Venafi. (2019, September 16).  What Are the Best Uses Cases for Symmetric VS Asymmetric Encryption? Retrieved from: www.venafi.com/blog/what-are-best-use-cases-symmetric-vs-asymmetric-encryption 

Adam Schmitz posted Mar 15, 2022 11:17 AMSubscribeThis page automatically marks posts as read as you scroll.Adjust automatic marking as read settingSymmetric cryptography is best utilized where speed is important.  With this in mind the best example I could think of would be disk encryption like BitLocker.  Having the ability to encrypt an entire drive is not a lightweight task.  Being able to decrypt at logon and not impact the speed at which the system becomes available by too much is vital.Asymmetric encryption on the other hand is better for more secure applications.  PKI is an example of asymmetric encryption and the foundation of SSL/TLS sessions on the web. Any HTTPS session created on the internet, which is the majority of traffic anymore, is done so via asymmetric encryption.  

Adam Schmitz posted Mar 15, 2022 11:17 Symmetric cryptography is best utilized where speed is important.  With this in mind the best example I could think of would be disk encryption like BitLocker.  Having the ability to encrypt an entire drive is not a lightweight task.  Being able to decrypt at logon and not impact the speed at which the system becomes available by too much is vital.Asymmetric encryption on the other hand is better for more secure applications.  PKI is an example of asymmetric encryption and the foundation of SSL/TLS sessions on the web. Any HTTPS session created on the internet, which is the majority of traffic anymore, is done so via asymmetric encryption.