This blog was originally started to better help me understand the technologies in the CCIE R&S blueprint; after completing the R&S track I have decided to transition the blog into a technology blog.

CCIE #29033

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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Symmetric and Asymmetric Algorithms - Basic Differences


Symmetric uses only one key for both encryption and decryption. Sender and receiver share the same shared secret to transfer data securely. Algorithms include DES, 3DES, AES, IDEA, RC2/4/5/6, and Blowfish. Also referred to as "secret key" encryption.

DES - 56bit keys
3DES - 112bit and 168bit keys
AES - 128bit, 192bit, and 256bit keys
IDEA (International Data Encryption Alogrithm) - 128bit keys
RC2 - 40bit and 64bit keys
RC4 - 1bit to 256bit keys
RC5 - 0bit to 2040bit keys
RC6 - 128bit, 192bit, and 256bit keys
Blowfish - 32bit to 448bit keys


Asymmetric uses one key for encryption and another key for decryption referred to as public key infrastructure encryption. Key lengths generally ranging from 512 to 4096bits.

Example of asymmetric encryption RSA,EIGamal, Eliptical Curves, and Diffie Hellman
Posted by Packets Analyzed at 8:36 AM
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1 comments:

Unknown said...

You have listed all the technical differences between symmetric and asymmetric encryption techniques. I am less familiar with all these algorithms but wanted to learn about RSA encryption process in detail. I have read that this is the most powerful scheme.
digital certificates

November 27, 2013 at 1:47 AM

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