OCU C)ISSO C Discussion Lesson 07
- This topic has 4 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 2 weeks ago by
Joseph Doss.
-
AuthorPosts
-
-
February 15, 2024 at 4:12 pm #93548
Manny Varela
KeymasterChoose 1 Symmetric Cipher and explain this to a person that is not knowledgeable of cybersecurity or technology. Write this in complete sentences and in paragraphs in your own words. If you use any terms, be sure to explain them in a non-technological way.
-
May 27, 2025 at 12:32 pm #106204
Ashly Jackson
ParticipantA symmetric cipher is like a secret code that two people use to share information safely. Imagine you want to send a letter to a friend, but you don’t want anyone else to read it. You and your friend agree on a special way to change the letters in your message before you send it. This process is called encryption, which means turning your message into something that looks like gibberish to anyone else.
One popular symmetric cipher is called the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). With AES, both you and your friend use the same key, which is like a password, to unlock the message. To put it simply, when you write your message, you use the key to turn it into scrambled letters. Only someone with the same key can change it back into the original message.
The idea behind symmetric ciphers, like AES, is that the same key aids in both scrambling and unscrambling the information. Because of this, it’s vital that both parties keep the key secret and secure. If someone else finds out the key, they can read all your private messages. Thus, symmetric ciphers help to keep our online conversations and data confidential, making it a crucial part of cybersecurity.
-
May 28, 2025 at 11:56 pm #106225
Amy Hastings
ParticipantA Symmetric Cipher is simply a private way to share information among your friends or another person like a key or code. It’s like if you and one other person were to want to speak to one another privately without anyone else knowing what you’re writing. This is kind of like when you were in school and came up with a “made-up” language by using other things than letters to create a message. This helps you and whoever you’re writing to keep your letter confidential.
A common Symmetric Cipher is DES or Data Encryption Standard. This is used to also use a secret key or code to send messages to another person. This key or code can only be used by you unless you let someone else have access or tell them what your code is. The only one that would be able to know what you wrote would be the one who has that key. So simply a Symmetric Cipher is a way to send messages confidentially with a secret made up code or language made by you.-
May 29, 2025 at 11:42 am #106230
Ashly Jackson
ParticipantThank you for the great explanation! I really liked how you described symmetric ciphers using the example of a made-up language between friends it made the concept easy to understand and relatable. It’s a great way to show how symmetric encryption works by using the same key for both encrypting and decrypting messages. You also did a good job emphasizing the importance of keeping the key secret, which is critical to protecting confidential information. Including DES as a real-world example helped connect the idea to practical cybersecurity applications. Your post made it clear how symmetric ciphers are used to ensure private communication, whether between individuals or in larger systems. Overall, your description was clear, simple, and very informative.
-
-
May 30, 2025 at 2:24 pm #106250
Joseph Doss
ParticipantSymmetric ciphers use a single encryption key to both encrypt and decrypt data. Think of a lock to your house, the items inside of your home being the “data”. outside looking in the items or “data” cannot be viewed but once inside you can see the items (data) The encryption key being the key to your door if you use you key to unlock your door or “decrypt” the data you can see what is inside. The door to the home can only be locked and unlocked by the same key, just as your data is encrypted and decrypted by the same single key.
An example of an encryption method would be the Data Encryption Standard, this encryption method in a way scrambles or encodes your data (the house and lock) and a key to un-encoding that data is created (your door key) anyone with that key can open the door, but without the key the door stays locked (your data stays secure)
-
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.