OCU C)SP D Week 04 Lesson 09 Discussion
- This topic has 20 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 1 day, 3 hours ago by
Isabelle Tubbs.
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March 28, 2022 at 11:23 am #65891
Jessica Jagerson
KeymasterDiscuss the value of cryptography methodology and the various uses to ensure the integrity of data.
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October 21, 2025 at 8:09 am #109814
Derrick Adams
ParticipantWhile encryption guards confidentiality, integrity comes from math that lets us detect even prove whether data was changed. The starting point is hashing. A hash creates a one-way fingerprint of a file, record, or log entry. If a single bit changes, the fingerprint changes, so teams can verify backups, check system files, and spot tampering in logs. When a secret key is added to the hash, we get an HMAC. That small step lets applications and APIs confirm that a message really came from someone who knows the key and that it was not altered in transit.
Public-key cryptography extends this idea with digital signatures. A sender signs the hash of a document with a private key; anyone can verify it with the public key. Signatures provide integrity and non-repudiation for software updates, contracts, email, and archived logs. Certificates and TLS then bind keys to identities so integrity checks can be trusted across the network. At the platform level, secure boot and code signing verify firmware and operating system components before they run. All of this depends on sound key management—protecting keys, rotating them, and separating duties—and on storing passwords as salted, stretched hashes. Together, these practices make it clear when data or software has been changed and help prove which version is authentic.-
October 26, 2025 at 6:13 pm #110077
Teisha Nolen
ParticipantHi Derrick! This is a great explanation of cryptography. You broke down the concepts very clearly! I agree, hashing and HMACs are foundational for proving data integrity. I’ve seen how digital signatures and secure boot processes help verify authenticity across systems. Without strong key management, even the best cryptographic tools will not be enough. It’s all about layering protection to ensure trust in every transaction and update. Thanks again!
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October 23, 2025 at 7:15 pm #109877
Carlos Martes
ParticipantCryptography is the process of protecting information by converting it into a secure format that only authorized users can understand. t ensures that sensitive data, such as passwords, financial records, or personal information that stays private and cannot be accessed by hackers. Cryptography helps maintain data integrity, meaning the information cannot be changed or tampered with without detection. Common methods include encryption, which scrambles data into unreadable code, and hashing, in which verifies that data has not been altered. Digital signatures also play a key role by confirming that a message or file truly came from a trusted source. These tools work together to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of information. In todays digital world, cryptography is essential for secure communication, online banking and protecting company and personal data from cyber threats, helping organizations build trust and maintain compliance with security standards.
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October 27, 2025 at 3:12 pm #110661
Caleb Kiser
ParticipantHi Carlos,
Cryptography is a huge part of keeping our digital world safe. Things like encryption, hashing, and digital signatures make sure data stays private, untouched, and verified. It’s what keeps online banking, messages, and personal info secure, and helps companies earn trust while staying protected from hackers.
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October 24, 2025 at 11:06 pm #110060
Mjulius513
ParticipantCryptography is very important in keeping data safe and trustworthy. It uses special methods to protect information so that only the right people can read or change it. The main purpose of cryptography is to make sure that data stays private, accurate, and secure while being stored or sent over a network.
One of the key uses of cryptography is encryption, which changes readable data into a secret code. Only someone with the correct key can unlock and read it. This protects sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, and company files from hackers. Another use is digital signatures, which help confirm that a message or document really came from a trusted sender and was not changed.
Cryptography also supports data integrity by detecting any unauthorized changes. Whether used in emails, online banking, or cloud storage, cryptography builds trust and keeps personal and business data safe from cyber threats.
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October 27, 2025 at 7:57 pm #110670
Misty Stewart
ParticipantCryptography gives me peace of mind in today’s digital world. It’s not just about hiding information it’s about making sure only the right people can access what matters, like my personal details or financial info. I rely on cryptography every time I send an email, shop online, or store files in the cloud. I also appreciate how digital signatures help me trust that documents and messages are authentic and haven’t been tampered with. Knowing these protections are in place makes me feel safer as I navigate both personal and professional digital spaces.
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October 27, 2025 at 10:58 pm #110673
Trae Johnson
ParticipantYou’ve defined the basic function of cryptography and how it maintains the privacy and trust values of data. I am glad you highlighted encryption and digital signatures as both are what collectively guarantee confidentiality and authenticity. Your comment on the detection of unauthorized alteration shows that you realize how cryptography also guarantees data integrity, not just privacy. I especially agree with your mention of actual use cases like email, online banking, and cloud storage—these show how pervasive cryptography has become in our everyday life. All in all, your entry well describes how cryptography creates digital trust through the protection of data against cyber attacks and third-party intrusions.
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October 24, 2025 at 11:38 pm #110062
Caleb Kiser
ParticipantCryptography is a vital part of modern cybersecurity because it protects data from being accessed, altered, or stolen by unauthorized users. It works by converting plain information into an unreadable format that can only be decoded by someone with the correct key. This ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of data both in storage and during transmission. Cryptography is used in many everyday applications like securing online banking, protecting passwords, encrypting emails, and verifying digital signatures. It also helps organizations comply with data protection laws and maintain customer trust. By preventing tampering and ensuring that data remains unchanged from its original form, cryptography helps guarantee that information is accurate and reliable. Overall, it serves as a cornerstone of data security, making sure sensitive information stays private and trustworthy in a digital world.
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October 26, 2025 at 5:35 pm #110073
Addison West
ParticipantI think you did a great job explaining what cryptography is and why it’s so important in cybersecurity. You clearly showed how it protects data from being changed or stolen and how it keeps information private and safe. I like how you mentioned that it helps with things people use every day, like online banking, passwords, and emails. That really shows how common and useful cryptography is in real life.
I also agree with your point about how it helps companies follow data protection laws and keep customer trust. That’s something a lot of people don’t think about, but it’s very important. Your explanation makes it easy to understand that cryptography doesn’t just hide information, it makes sure that it stays real, safe, and reliable. Overall, your response shows a strong understanding of how cryptography works and why it’s a key part of keeping our digital world secure.
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October 27, 2025 at 10:59 pm #110674
Trae Johnson
ParticipantThis definition does well to capture the importance of cryptography. I appreciate how you addressed the three fundamental security goals it provides—confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. You also well identified its real-world applications, from password encryption to online transactions and digital signatures. I am glad you brought compliance and customer trust to the fore because cryptography is a key ingredient towards attaining data protection mandates and maintaining a company’s good reputation. Your abstract points out that cryptography is not a technological buzzword but, instead, is a cornerstone of modern data security that makes sensitive data trustworthy and safe from start to finish.
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October 25, 2025 at 7:33 pm #110065
Addison West
ParticipantCryptography is extremely important in today’s digital world because it helps keep information safe, private, and trustworthy. It works by changing readable data into a secret code, called encryption, that can only be read by someone who has the correct key to unlock it. This makes it very difficult for hackers or other unauthorized people to steal or change information. Cryptography is used in many everyday situations, even when people do not realize it. For example, it protects text messages, emails, online banking, and shopping transactions. It also helps keep passwords safe and ensures that websites are secure when people share personal or financial information.
One of the main values of cryptography is that it protects the integrity of data. Data integrity means that the information stays the same and has not been changed, deleted, or corrupted by anyone. When data is sent over the internet or stored in a system, cryptography helps check that it remains exactly as it was created. This builds trust between people and companies because they can rely on the information being correct and unchanged.
Cryptography also plays a key role in authentication and privacy. Authentication confirms that a person or device is truly who they claim to be, while privacy keeps information hidden from those who should not see it. Overall, cryptography is one of the most valuable tools for protecting information, preventing cyberattacks, and keeping communication safe in today’s connected world.
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October 27, 2025 at 4:00 pm #110664
Carlos Martes
ParticipantGood afternoon Addison! Another great post!
Cryptography protects information by turning data into unreadable code that only authorized users can unlock. It keeps messages, banking, and passwords safe, ensuring privacy and trust. It also maintains data integrity, confirms identities, and prevents cyberattacks. Overall, cryptography keeps online communication and sensitive information secure in todays digital world.
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October 26, 2025 at 6:09 pm #110076
Teisha Nolen
ParticipantCryptography is a vital part of protecting data in any organization. It helps ensure that sensitive information stays secure, accurate, and untouched by unauthorized users. Methods like encryption, hashing, and digital signatures work together to keep data confidential and verify its integrity. Encryption protects data in transit and at rest, making it unreadable to anyone without the proper key. Hashing helps confirm that files or messages haven’t been altered, and digital signatures verify the identity of the sender.
These tools are especially important when dealing with personal information, financial records, or proprietary business data. Cryptography also plays a key role in meeting compliance standards and protecting against cyber threats. When implemented correctly, it builds trust both internally and with customers, showing that the organization takes data security seriously. In today’s digital environment, cryptography is a foundational part of responsible data management and long-term business resilience.-
October 27, 2025 at 7:29 am #110094
Mjulius513
ParticipantHey Teisha, I agree with you! Cryptography is very important for keeping data safe. I like how you explained encryption, hashing, and digital signatures,they really help protect information and make sure it’s not changed or stolen. Using these tools shows that an organization cares about keeping people’s information secure.
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October 26, 2025 at 8:17 pm #110079
Misty Stewart
ParticipantCryptography is essential for safeguarding information, relying on mathematical processes to transform data so that it cannot be understood by unauthorized individuals. Its main goal is to preserve the accuracy, privacy, and legitimacy of information as it is transmitted over networks or stored in databases. Techniques such as encryption restrict access to data to only those who are permitted, while hashing generates a distinct code for each file or message, making it possible to spot any alterations. Digital signatures add another layer of security by confirming the sender’s identity and ensuring the information remains unchanged.
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October 27, 2025 at 11:06 am #110098
Addison West
ParticipantHey Misty,
I completely agree with your explanation of cryptography. It’s amazing how something rooted in mathematics plays such a vital role in protecting our digital world. I especially like how you pointed out the importance of maintaining accuracy, privacy, and legitimacy, those are the foundations of trust in any system. Encryption, hashing, and digital signatures all work together to create layers of defense that keep data secure, whether it’s personal information, financial transactions, or private communications. It’s fascinating to think about how these techniques quietly operate behind the scenes to keep our information safe every day.
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October 27, 2025 at 10:58 pm #110672
Trae Johnson
ParticipantCryptography is very crucial in securing data and ensuring its integrity in both personal and business applications. It forms the basis of secure communication through guarantees that information is confidential, authentic, and unchanged. Encryption, hashing, and digital signatures are some of the major cryptographic processes that ensure security against unauthorized access and data tampering. Through these techniques, organizations can verify identities, keep intruders out, and verify sensitive data such as financial information, medical records, and patents. Cryptography not only safeguards data in transit and storage but also ensures compliance with privacy laws and builds public confidence in electronic systems.
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October 28, 2025 at 10:28 am #110698
Isabelle Tubbs
ParticipantHi, Trae. I like that you mentioned how cryptography can help with complying with privacy laws. Privacy is so important that there are rules in place to make sure systems do their best to maintain privacy. As a result, cryptography is one way to ensure that security measures are in accordance with laws that are established.
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October 27, 2025 at 11:23 pm #110675
Willy Vazquez
ParticipantCryptography is very important if you want to keep your information secure. This ensures that the information is encrypted in storage and in transit and can only be accessed by the person it was intended for. An important component of cryptography is key management. This is important because the data needs to be both encrypted and decrypted and key management helps store the keys that would help in this process go smoother. Encryption methods like AES turn plain text into ciphertext ensuring that only the person with the right key can view this information. The sender, receiver, origin, and destination are all confirmed to ensure authenticity of the files that are sent or received. These 2 parts ensure that sensitive information is secured on top of many other parts to the cryptography system.
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October 28, 2025 at 10:26 am #110697
Isabelle Tubbs
ParticipantCryptography is a means of hiding data that is communicated so that its true meaning is not revealed to those for which it is not intended. Using ciphers, keys, and hashing can all be processes for protecting data through cryptography. There are different methods when using these tools, and they each have different types. The different types of ciphers vary as to whether the data will be encrypted or decrypted by bits or blocks. Asymmetric cryptography uses two separate keys for encrypting and decrypting, and symmetric cryptography uses one for both processes. Finally, hashing does not use a key, but it adds a hash value to a message.
Regardless of which tool is used, cryptography should ensure that the information that is sent is genuine and accurate. To prevent attacks on the data that is exchanged, cryptography helps protect the data so users can trust that what they have received is the right data.
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