Comparison of common encryption algorithms for digital safes

Digital safes need to ensure the security, integrity, and availability of data. The following is a comparative analysis of several commonly used encryption algorithms:

Symmetric encryption algorithm

DES encryption algorithm

Principle: It is a block cipher that encrypts data in 64 - bit blocks. The key length is 56 bits. The same algorithm is used for both encryption and decryption. Security is ensured by keeping the key secret while making the algorithm (including both the encryption and decryption algorithms) public. Actually, breaking it means searching for the encoding of the key.

Advantages: The algorithm is open, with a certain degree of security. It was widely used in the early days, and the algorithm is relatively simple with a small amount of computation.

Disadvantages: The key length is relatively short. With the continuous development of computer system capabilities, its security is much weaker than when it first emerged. Nowadays, it is only used for the authentication of old systems, and new encryption standards are more likely to be chosen. Moreover, the transmission and storage of keys are problematic because both parties involved in encryption and decryption use the same key, which is prone to leakage.

Applicable scenarios: Old systems with low security requirements or non-critical application scenarios.

AES encryption algorithm

Principle: It adopts a symmetric block cipher system. The minimum supported key lengths are 128, 192, and 256 bits. The block length is 128 bits. It supports data block sizes and cipher lengths of 128/192/256 bits. It is the block encryption standard adopted by the US federal government, replacing the original DES.

Advantages: It has a fast encryption speed and can meet the encryption and decryption processing requirements for large amounts of data. It has been analyzed by multiple parties and is widely used around the world, with high security and reliability. It is easy to implement on various hardware and software.

Disadvantages: There are also issues with key transmission and storage. If the key is leaked, the security of the data will be threatened.

Applicable scenarios: Widely used in various scenarios where data security needs to be ensured, such as the financial and e - commerce fields. It is a relatively commonly used symmetric encryption algorithm in digital safes.

Asymmetric encryption algorithm

RSA encryption algorithm

Principle: Based on the simple fact in number theory that it is easy to multiply two large prime numbers, but extremely difficult to factorize their product. The product is made public as the encryption key, and different keys (public key and private key) are used for encryption and decryption.

Advantages: It is currently the most influential public-key encryption algorithm. It can be used for both encryption and digital signatures. It can resist all known cryptographic attacks to date and has been recommended by ISO as the public-key data encryption standard.

Disadvantages: The encryption and decryption speeds are relatively slow, and the computational workload is large. It is not suitable for encrypting large amounts of data.

Applicable scenarios: It is often used in scenarios such as digital signatures and key exchanges. In a digital safe, it can be used to ensure the secure transmission of keys and identity verification.

One-way encryption algorithm (Hash algorithm)

MD5 encryption algorithm

Principle: Process the input information in 512 - bit blocks. Each block is further divided into 16 32 - bit sub - blocks. After a series of processing, a 128 - bit hash value is generated by concatenating four 32 - bit blocks, using a hash function.

Advantages: It is widely used for password authentication and key identification in various software. It can generate an information digest for a piece of information to prevent the information from being tampered with. It can also be used in digital signature applications to prevent the author of the file from denying it.

Disadvantages: It has been cracked at present, posing a security risk, that is, there may be a situation where two different inputs produce the same hash value (collision).

Applicable scenarios: It has certain applications in scenarios with low security requirements, such as simple data verification in some small - scale systems. However, it is not suitable for digital safe scenarios with high security requirements.

SHA1 encryption algorithm

Principle: It imitates the MD4 encryption algorithm and is designed to be used together with the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA). For messages with a length of less than 2^64 bits, it will generate a 160-bit message digest. The input is divided into 512-bit blocks and processed separately. A 160-bit buffer stores the intermediate and final results of the hash function.

Advantages: It is an algorithm with stronger security than MD5 and can be used to verify the integrity of data and prevent data from being tampered with during transmission.

Disadvantages: There is also a theoretical possibility of collision. However, it is very difficult to find a collision for specified data using an algorithm with high security, and it is even more difficult to calculate a collision using a formula.

Applicable scenarios: It is suitable for scenarios with high requirements for data integrity, such as integrity verification during file downloading. In a digital safe, it can be used to assist in verifying the integrity of data.