Cryptography: encryption, algorithms, PKI and post-quantum
Cryptography is the technical foundation of IT security. This article explains symmetric and asymmetric encryption (AES, RSA, ECC), hash functions and password hashing (bcrypt, Argon2), digital signatures, PKI hierarchies, TLS 1.3 with specific Nginx configurations, post-quantum cryptography (ML-KEM, ML-DSA), BSI TR-02102 recommendations, and common implementation errors in practice.
Summary: Cryptography protects confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity: symmetric encryption (AES-256-GCM) for performance, asymmetric encryption (RSA-4096, ECC P-384) for key exchange and signatures, and hybrid methods that combine both. TLS 1.3 (mandatory, 1.0/1.1 deprecated), PKI and certificate chains, quantum threat from Shor’s algorithm → post-quantum cryptography (CRYSTALS-Kyber, CRYSTALS-Dilithium). BSI recommends: AES-256, RSA-3072+, SHA-256+.
Sources & References
- [1] NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization - NIST
- [2] BSI: Kryptographische Verfahren - Empfehlungen und Schlüssellängen TR-02102 - BSI
- [3] RFC 8446 - TLS 1.3 - IETF
- [4] OWASP Cryptographic Storage Cheat Sheet - OWASP
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About the Author
M.Sc. Internet-Sicherheit (if(is), Westfälische Hochschule). COO und Prokurist mit Expertise in Informationssicherheitsberatung und Security Awareness. Nachwuchsprofessor für Cyber Security an der FOM Hochschule, CISO-Referent bei der isits AG und Promovend am Graduierteninstitut NRW.
11 Publikationen
- Understanding Regional Filter Lists: Efficacy and Impact (2025)
- Privacy from 5 PM to 6 AM: Tracking and Transparency Mechanisms in the HbbTV Ecosystem (2025)
- A Platform for Physiological and Behavioral Security (2025)
- Different Seas, Different Phishes - Large-Scale Analysis of Phishing Simulations Across Different Industries (2025)
- Exploring the Effects of Cybersecurity Awareness and Decision-Making Under Risk (2024)
- Sharing is Caring: Towards Analyzing Attack Surfaces on Shared Hosting Providers (2024)
- On the Similarity of Web Measurements Under Different Experimental Setups (2023)
- People, Processes, Technology - The Cybersecurity Triad (2023)
- Social Media Scraper im Einsatz (2021)
- Digital Risk Management (DRM) (2020)
- New Work - Die Herausforderungen eines modernen ISMS (2024)
