Advancing Cryptography in India to Tackle Quantum Challenges
- January 20, 2025
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
No Comments
Advancing Cryptography in India to Tackle Quantum Challenges
Sub: Sci
Sec: Awareness in IT and Computer
Why in News
- India’s research in cryptography is gaining momentum to address the challenges posed by quantum computing. The National Quantum Mission and other government initiatives are paving the way for advancements in secure communication technologies, including quantum-resistant cryptography.
Cryptography:
- Cryptography involves securing information by converting plain text into ciphertext, ensuring confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation.
- Historical Context:
- Ancient Mesopotamians used cryptic formulae for ceramic glazes.
- Julius Caesar employed the Caesar cipher for strategic communications.
- Alan Turing’s work during World War II laid the foundation for modern computing and cryptographic systems.
Modern Cryptographic Techniques:
- Modern cryptography is essential for securing digital communication, protecting sensitive information, and ensuring data integrity.
- Encryption: The process of converting plaintext into ciphertext using an algorithm and a key to prevent unauthorized access.
- Decryption: Reversing the encryption process to retrieve the original plaintext from ciphertext using the appropriate key.
- Digital Signatures: Authenticate the origin and ensure the integrity of a message or document. The sender generates a signature using their private key, which can be verified by others using the sender’s public key.
- Cryptographic Protocols: Structured sequences of operations ensuring secure communication and data exchange between parties.
- SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security): Protocols for establishing encrypted links over the internet.
- IPsec (Internet Protocol Security): Suite of protocols for securing internet protocol communications.
Types of Cryptographic Techniques: Modern cryptography primarily comprises three categories:
- Symmetric Key Cryptography: Utilizes a single key for both encryption and decryption processes.
- Generally faster due to simpler algorithms.
- Requires secure distribution and management of keys among parties.
- Common Algorithms:
- Data Encryption Standard (DES): An older standard now considered insecure due to its short key length.
- Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): Widely adopted for its robustness and efficiency.
- Asymmetric Key Cryptography: Employs a pair of keys—a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption.
- Eliminates the need for sharing private keys, reducing the risk of compromise.
- Better suited for environments requiring secure communication between multiple parties.
- Common Algorithms:
- RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman): Widely used for secure data transmission.
- Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC): Offers similar security with smaller key sizes, enhancing performance.
- Hash Functions: Generate a fixed-size hash value from input data of arbitrary size, ensuring data integrity.
- The same input always produces the same hash output.
- Difficult to find two different inputs producing the same hash output.
- Common Algorithms:
- MD5 (Message Digest Algorithm 5): Once popular but now considered vulnerable to attacks.
- SHA (Secure Hash Algorithms): A family of hash functions with varying levels of security (e.g., SHA-1, SHA-256).
Emerging Trends in Cryptography:
- Homomorphic Encryption: Allows computations to be performed on encrypted data without decrypting it, preserving confidentiality throughout the process. Secure data processing in cloud computing and privacy-preserving data analysis.
- Lightweight Cryptography: Design cryptographic algorithms optimized for devices with constrained resources, such as IoT devices.
- Quantum-resistant Cryptography (QRC): Aims to develop systems that can withstand quantum computer-based attacks. Combines quantum physics principles with cryptography to create secure systems.
Recent Breakthroughs in India:
- True Random Number Generation: A collaborative effort by RRI, IISc, and others developed a method to create truly random numbers for secure cryptographic keys. These advancements enhance security for passwords and private keys, reducing susceptibility to hacking.