Mobile Device Encryption

Mobile Device Encryption:

Hello again. Today boss man is confused about the different types of encryption available to mobile device users, so I’ve been tasked with the dubious task of trying to explain this to him.

Should say painful, but…

There are a few mentioned in Chapter nine in the text book. We’re still using the Mobility + Certification book and I did research using mobile device encryption as my reference point.

Triple DES (unofficially abbreviated as 3DES) is a version of DES which is Data Encryption Standard and was created to mitigate some of the weaknesses of DES. The book says it doesn’t really have any newer or more complex features; it simply repeats DES’s encryption for every block of plaintext, respective of mode, although sometimes in a different order.3DES uses three 56-bit DES keys and is commonly considered to have a 168-bit key strength. 3DES has been replaced by other more secure algorithms, but is still used to encrypt copyrighted DVDs.

Twofish was developed by Bruce Schneier as his new version of Blowfish encryption algorithm. Twofish operates using variable key sizes (128-, 192-, and 256-bit keys) on 128-bit blocks. As one of the top five finalists for the Advanced Encryption Standard completion sponsored by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), it is used in some hardware and software implementations.

AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is the algorithm selected from the five finalists in the NIST competition to be the United States national standard. The competition was held in 2001. The algorithm chosen was the Rijndael (pronounced rain-doll) cipher. Rijndael uses block size of 128-bits, but can use three different key sizes (128-, 192-, and 256-bit.

AES is a symmetric block cipher and uses 10 rounds (iterations or repetitions) for 128-bit keys, and 12 and 14 rounds for 192- and 256-bit keys, respectively. AES has been certified for use in all U.S. Government applications and confidentiality levels through Top Secret, with certain stipulations.

There you have it. Three different types of encryptions. I only hope this has helped the boss man. I have a grasp on what they are and do, but if I had to explain all the details I don’t think it would be to productive. I do however know that if I had it to do over and rebuild my home network, I would put in the newest AES type of encryption and thumb my nose at the hackers. Of course with all the modern technology available, hackers can probably still get in anyway. But at least I would have a sense of security for a little while. At least with all the different repetitions used, I think the algorithm would be harder to break.

So long for now, and “Happy researching”.

References:

"Understanding the Difference Between Wireless Encryption Protocols." Cisco Blog RSS. Web. 09 Mar. 2016. <http://blogs.cisco.com/smallbusiness/understanding-the-difference-between-wireless-encryption-protocols>.

Rogers, Bobby E. CompTIA Mobility Certification: Exam Guide (exam MB0-001). Print. Chapter 9