In this module you have been introduced to the basic security mechanism needed in e-commerce. This includes encryption and decryption
techniques, means to provide authentication, certification message integrity, and data security.
The techniques and technologies involved with e-commerce security are often arcane and require the expertise of a specialist. Business
personnel responsible for applying e-commerce for their companies, however, should at least have a basic grasp of the methods and techniques
and, in particular, be sensitive to the needs of security when designing e-commerce business processes. In the next module, we will examine the basic technologies used in e-commerce.
Now that you have completed this module, you should be able to:
Identify symmetric, asymmetric, and one-way encryption schemes
Itemize the benefits provided by security implementations such as hashing, message digests, and digital signatures
Understand the certificate-related infrastructure
Identify the need for secure electronic transactions
Identify encryption schemes such symmetric, asymmetric, and one way
Describe the methods for authentication and identification
Explain the use of certificates
Key terms and concepts
Algorithm: a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.
Asymmetric key algorithm: Asymmetric key algorithms, are used to solve two problems that symmetric key algorithms cannot: key distribution and nonrepudiation. The first helps solve privacy problems, and the latter helps solve authenticity problems.
Asymmetric encryption:
Authentication
Certificate authority (CA):In cryptography, a certificate authority (CA) is an entity that issues digital certificates, where the digital certificate certifies the ownership of a public key by the named subject of the certificate.
Cryptography
Certificate
Ciphertext
Cryptanalysis
Data Encryption Standard (DES):The Data Encryption Standard (DES) is an outdated symmetric-key method of data
Digital envelope
Hash algorithm
Hashing
MD5
Message digest:A message digest is a cryptographic hash function containing a string of digits created by a one-way hashing formula.
One-way encryption
Plaintext
Public-key encryption
RSA
Hash Algorithm (SHA):In cryptography, SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1) is a cryptographic hash function which takes an input and produces a 160-bit (20-byte) hash value known as a message digest rendered as a hexadecimal number, 40 digits long.
Symmetric encryption
firewall: A firewall is a network security device that monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic and permits or blocks data packets based on a set of security rules.
encryption
key
bit
compression: In signal processing, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation.
In the next module you will learn about e-commerce solutions.
Digital Signature Authentication - Quiz
Click the Quiz link below to review what you've learned about Web-based security using various methods of encryption.
Digital Signature Authentication - Quiz