Encryption is a process of securing information using a cipher or algorithm to render it unreadable to everyone except those who possess a unique key. Encryption has been used by governments and militaries for a long time to create secure communication. Recently, encryption methods are commonly used to protect civilian information as well. It can also be used to secure data in transit across networks, wireless frequencies, Bluetooth devices, and mobile phones. There are many kinds of encryption algorithms, but not all of them are suitable for every type of use. An encrypting product that is used by corporate networks may not be practical for mobile users.
Algorithms: MD5, SHA1, Base64
MD5 is a popular cryptographic hash function that uses a 128 bit hash value. It was originally designed in 1991 by Ron Rivest to replace the earlier hash known as MD4. MD5 is integrated many security applications and is also popularly used to check file integrity. However, researches have proven that MD5 is not a collision resistant encryption, making it unsuitable for digital signatures or SSL certificates that rely on this property.
SHA1 is the original 160 bit secure hash algorithm. It has some similarities to the early stages of MD5, but it was created by the NSA to be become a part of the Digital Signature Algorithm. The actual name for it was SHA, but the product was withdrawn after a significant flaw was found. The SHA1 model replaced SHA, although only slight revisions were made to the product.
Base64 is a term that originates from MIME encoded content transfers. Base64 encoding is commonly used when it is necessary to encode data that needs to be transferred and stored over media. This form of encryption is used in many email applications because it can store complex data in XML format.
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