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#set text(
//font: "Times New Roman",
size: 12pt,
)
Marius Drechsler\
Compare and Contrast Essay\
June 21st, 2025
Name\
Type of essay\
Date
#align(center, text(size: 17pt, weight: "bold")[
*Decoding Security: A Comparative Analysis of Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption*
*Essay Title*
])
#set align(left)
@ -43,66 +42,8 @@ June 21st, 2025
#show: word-count
Modern communication is highly dependent on robust and flexible encryption methods.
These methods are not only needed when transmitting a message, but also to provide secure and reliable infrastructure which is dependent on internet-communication.
To achieve such a high standard of flexibility, two prominent methods for encrypting messages are used: symmetric and asymmetric encryption.
These two kinds of encryption algorithms use different strategies and methods to securely encrypt plain text content.
This essay will investigate the key differences between symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms while especially focussing on use-cases, security, performance and complexity.
The most prominent difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryption is the number of keys used in the encryption and decryption stages.
Symmetric encryption utilizes a single key for both encryption and decryption.
For that reason, both parties that want to encrypt or decrypt a message symmetrically need the same key to decrypt and encrypt their corresponding messages.
On the other hand, asymmetric encryption uses two different keys for encryption and decryption: a public and a private key.
The public is shared openly and is used to encrypt a message for the recipient of the public keys' owner.
The recipient of the encrypted message uses their private key to decrypt the message @symmetric-vs-asymmetric.
The public key can be thought of as a lock that the sender uses so "seal" their message, while the private key is only owned by the corresponding recipient to unlock the message and read its contents.
This fundamental difference in key management not only affects the encryption process but also has significant implications for the security of the encrypted data.
The security of both symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms depends heavily on the context and application of these methods.
Symmetric encryption heavily relies on the strength of the key and the algorithm used @symmetric-security.
For example, the Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm introduced in 1975 uses a key length of 56 bits, which makes it too insecure for modern applications, since the key can easily be guessed by a relatively powerful computer @des.
For that reason, DES has been generally replaced by the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
Additionally, since there is only one key for both encryption and decryption, symmetric encryption algorithms are vulnerable if the key is compromised.
This security vulnerability is not present in asymmetric encryption algorithms, as the keys to encrypt and decrypt messages are separated.
The public key is defined as being safely publicly available while the private key can be always kept with its owner @symmetric-vs-asymmetric.
These implications on security also impact the respecting applications for encryption methods. // why? is not explained here.
// hier noch ein concluding sentence um auf das thema use case hinzuweisen
The use of a certain encryption method heavily depends on the given use case.
While symmetric encryption is mainly used to encrypt large amounts of data, like files or even whole disks, asymmetric encryption is usually used for secure communication over the internet.
A fitting example for secure internet communication is secure web browsing, using Transport Layer Security (TLS) @tls.
TLS uses asymmetric cryptography to ensure that the web server is correctly authenticated against the user.
This method provides assurance that the user is genuinely interacting with the designated server.
Another example is encrypting or decrypting e-mails using the Pretty-Good-Privacy (PGP) system --- encrypting and decrypting e-mails with the public and private key respectively @pgp.
PGP can also be used to digitally sign content.
As with TLS authentication, asymmetric cryptography makes it possible to generate digital signatures of content using the private key.
Subsequently, this signature can be verified using the corresponding, publicly available, public key.
To optimize the use of both encryption methods, hybrid encryption methods can be used.
Using hybrid encryption methods, a strong symmetric encryption key can be shared with another party securely using asymmetric encryption methods.
The symmetric key can then be used to encrypt and decrypt larger amounts of data, for example to securely transfer large files over the internet.
A broadly used method of using hybrid encryption methods is called "Diffie-Hellman (DH) key exchange".
Using the DH key exchange, a symmetric key can be securely exchanged on a public channel using the public-private key model of asymmetric encryption @dh-key-exchange.
The reason for the use of different encryption methods for different use cases is heavily influenced by the underlying performance of these algorithms.
The performance of an encryption algorithm can be defined as its speed of operation.
To measure the performance of an algorithm, the time for both encryption and decryption is measured.
Symmetric encryption algorithms are generally considered faster due to the use of simpler encryption algorithms, like AES @aes-performance.
AES also uses shorter keys than the, for example, asymmetric RSA algorithm @rsa, which also contributes to the higher performance @performance-comparison.
The underlying reason for these differing performances in asymmetric and symmetric encryption algorithms can also be attributed to their complexity.
The implementation and use of symmetric encryption algorithms is significantly less complex than that of asymmetric methods.
Due to the use of the same key for encryption and decryption in symmetric methods, the process of encrypting and decrypting data is simpler than that of asymmetric methods.
Symmetric algorithms like AES also use a special structure to encrypt content called "Block Cipher Structure".
Here, AES splits up the content to be encrypted into fixed-size blocks of data, which then can be processed in parallel, allowing for even higher performance.
Asymmetric encryption methods, on the other hand, require the previously introduced set of keys (public and private) to encrypt and decrypt data.
The asymmetric RSA algorithm, for example, utilizes computational intensive exponential calculations to encrypt plain text content @rsa.
In conclusion, both symmetric and asymmetric encryption methods have different strengths in various application areas.
While symmetric methods benefit from their high efficiency in encrypting large amounts of data, asymmetric methods are more suitable for secure information exchange, for example over the internet.
Hybrid cryptography represents an exciting solution to the weaknesses of both systems by combining both encryption types. By exchanging symmetric keys via asymmetric cryptographic methods, large amounts of data can already be securely transmitted over the internet today.
//Essay has a total of #total-words words.
Essay has a total of #total-words words.
#pagebreak()