Information Technology Use of Cartographical Techniques

 In the Internet age, data stealing or hacking has become a major threat to electronic messaging. The cartographical method used to create a digital signature is used to digitally sign the document. The digital signatures are certified by the CA or certification authority and this acts as authentication of the sender who has digitally signed the document. Thus, the certification lays great stress on the authentication done by who is a certified designated authority. The sender ensures that he issues the DSC. This process is being used for many Government processes. 

Thus now businesses and individuals take great care to digitally sign documents wherever its use has become a must. This authenticates the sender as well as prevents manipulation on the way.  Nevertheless, businesses and individuals are possessive about their documents and messages hence they encrypt them so that hackers cannot manipulate them. In the case of highly secure documentation, manipulation is a leak. Although developers in the information technology ecosystem continuously cryptography the process remains secure and manipulation does not take place.  But remember nothing is completely foolproof in the technology world and they have to keep on upgrading to keep ahead of the hackers.

Encryption in a digital signature assures that the document or message certified by the authority has not been changed or tampered with. In this article, we will see how encryption and decryption take place, and how it is checked to ensure no manipulation has taken place.

Cryptographical Key Generation

This type of encryption is used in the case of electronic data signing and messaging is known as cryptography. The technique turns readable data into illegible characters that cannot be read without the use of the public key. The characters form a list of alphanumerical dots and dash to represent what makes it illegible.

In this case, a public key is a must to open the document after the signer has created encryption using the private key. In rare instances, the private is also used to open the document but usually, it is the public key that performs the act as it is sent along with the documents. The private is always kept a secret.

The process is known as symmetric key cartography but when a public key is used for opening cryptic messages, or documents it is called asymmetric cryptography.

This is also known as key pair technology and data encrypted using hash algorithms. While the public key is used to open the document, the data sender keeps privately stored in his computer or other storage devices.

Encryption in a digital signature assures that the document or message certified by the authority has not been changed or tampered with.

List of Hash Algorithms

• MD5

• SHA-1

• SHA-2

• NTLM

• LANMAN

• SHA 256

The hash value generated by these mathematical algorithms is non-reversible and not possible to manipulate on electronic messaging systems. They generate the same value every time for a given document using mathematical algorithms. But in some instances, the process has resulted in two unique data returning the same hash values which is bad for security. Thus SHA 256 is most often used, it was designed by the United States National Security Agency and first published in the year 2001.

Digital Signature Certificate

The certificate is issued by a certifying authority in India authorized by CCA or the Controller of Certifying Authorities. The certification is issued based on IT Pan, Aadhar card, and video verification. The certificate contains:

• User's Name or Organization's Name

• Email Address

• Pin Code

• Issue Date

• Expiry Date

• Public Key

Cryptography in Digital Signature

In this process, the electronic document or messages are first encrypted using a hash algorithm. The hash value or digest results after encryption. The alphanumerical string is fixed as far as the size is concerned irrespective of the size of the document being encrypted. Thus, the object is represented in a cryptic form that cannot be deciphered without the use of a key generated by the sender.

DSC or Digital Certification by Certifying Authority or Partner

The sender or the signer is to send the public key and required documents to the CA for the issuance of the digital certification. The sender then sends the digest and public key along with the digital signature certification issued by CA to the receiver. The DSC issued by the certifying authority thus acts as an authentication for the receiver for the required purpose. You can also forward the application to the subsidiary a partner of the CA to issue DSC. The certifications are priced according to the type and the purpose they solve. You can apply for digital signatures online and send them to the CA for processing.