There are many security related terms whose meaning and purpose can be daunting when they are first encountered. Most of these terms are applicable to network applications. We will start with a brief overview of many of these terms. In later sections of this chapter, we will go into more details about the ones that are relevant to our discussion.
Central to most security related issues is encryption. This is the process of converting information that needs to be protected to an encrypted form using a key or a set of keys. The receiver of the encrypted information can use a key or set of keys to decrypt the information and revert it to its original form. This technique will prevent unauthorized access to the information.
We will demonstrate the use of both symmetric and asymmetric encryption techniques. Symmetric encryption uses a single key to encrypt and decrypt messages. Asymmetric encryption uses a pair of keys. These keys are frequently stored in a file called a keystore, which...