B.P4
Explain the principles and uses of cryptography to secure and protect data.
B.M2
Analyse how the principles and uses of cryptography impact the security and protection of data.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 Extended Certificate in Computing
Unit 7: IT Systems Security and Encryption
Learning Aim B:
B.P4 Explain the principles and uses of cryptography to
secure and protect data.
B.M2 Analyse how the principles and uses of
cryptography impact the security and protection
of data.
, P4/M2 Cryptography: Securing and
protecting data
Cryptography is a process of storing and then transmitting data; so that it is hidden and can only be
processed and read by its intended recipient. As an online money transfer company, it will be
integral that we use cryptography methods as it will enable us to electronically make financial
transactions without the possibility of the data being intercepted and read, due to the data being
encrypted to anyone other than the sender and recipient. In this document I will outline the
principles and uses of cryptography and how to use it in your business.
Principles and uses of cryptography
There are many reasons why cryptography is used - not just for financial transactions or personal
data transfer - and these are listed below:
Digital Rights Management (DRM)
This type of system is used to provide copyright protection for digital media (e.g. films and games).
Its main purpose is to prevent - by making it difficult - the unauthorised copping and distribution of
all types of digital media. An example of this is the ‘AACS’ system on Blu-ray disks which encrypts the
media data meaning in order for it to be played, it has to be unencrypted. This makes it harder to
copy the content off the disk.
This management system will play an important role in
the protection of data within our company as it would
make it harder for hackers to access and then copy our
information; therefore, lowering the chances of a
breach and the impacts on the company that may have.
Password storage
Within your company, you will need to make sure that all passwords are stored as encrypted files.
This will ensure that if the system was hacked, the hacker wouldn’t be able to view the passwords
and access the data on that account. Any passwords that are not encrypted are stored in plain text
and are considered risks as they are easy to read if someone gained access to the system. Another
thing to consider is password strength; all employees should have long passwords with letters,
numbers and special characters to ensure it is harder to find out what the password is - therefore
increasing security.
Both these methods should be used as
they will make sure that all passwords
are secured safely and that they are hard
to crack; therefore, meeting our
requirements to protect data. It also
limits the impact a potential breach could
have as all the passwords are stored in
encrypted form.
Unit 7: IT Systems Security and Encryption
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