Hivi hii end to end encryption huwa inamaanisha nini au ina maana gani, itakuwa vizuri kama utatuelimisha
What is end-to-end encryption?
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a method of secure communication that prevents third parties from accessing data while it's transferred from one end system or device to another.
In E2EE, the data is encrypted on the sender's system or device, and only the intended recipient can decrypt it. As it travels to its destination, the message cannot be read or tampered with by an internet service provider (ISP), application service provider, hacker or any other entity or service.
Many popular messaging service providers use end-to-end encryption, including Facebook,
WhatsApp and Zoom. These providers have faced
controversy around the decision to adopt E2EE. The technology makes it harder for providers to share user information from their services with authorities and potentially provides private messaging to people involved in illicit activities.
How does end-to-end encryption work?
The cryptographic keys used to encrypt and decrypt the messages are stored on the endpoints. This approach uses
public key encryption.
Public key, or asymmetric, encryption uses a public key that can be shared with others and a private key. Once shared, others can use the public key to encrypt a message and send it to the owner of the public key. The message can only be decrypted using the corresponding private key, also called the
decryption key.
In online communications, there is almost always an intermediary handing off messages between two parties involved in an exchange. That intermediary is usually a server belonging to an ISP, a telecommunications company or a variety of other organizations. The public key infrastructure E2EE uses ensures the intermediaries cannot eavesdrop on the messages that are being sent.
The method for ensuring a public key is the legitimate key created by the intended recipient is to embed the public key in a certificate that has been
digitally signed by a recognized certificate authority (
CA). Because the CA's public key is widely distributed and known, its veracity can be counted on; a certificate signed by that public key can be presumed authentic. Since the certificate associates the recipient's name and public key, the CA would presumably not sign a certificate that associated a different public key with the same name.
How does E2EE differ from other types of encryption?
What makes end-to-end encryption unique compared to other encryption systems is that only the endpoints -- the sender and the receiver -- are capable of decrypting and reading the message.
Symmetric key encryption, which is also known as
single-key or
secret key encryption, also provides an unbroken layer of encryption from sender to recipient, but it uses only one key to encrypt messages.
The key used in single-key encryption can be a password, code or string of randomly generated numbers and is sent to the message recipient, enabling them to unencrypt the message. It may be complex and make the message look like gibberish to intermediaries passing it from sender to receiver. However, the message can be intercepted, decrypted and read, no matter how drastically the one key changes it if an intermediary gets ahold of the key.
E2EE, with its two keys, keeps intermediaries from accessing the key and decrypting the message.
