Introduction to Encryption (Cybersecurity)
- Description
- Curriculum
- FAQ
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Welcome to the “Introduction to Encryption” course. Encryption is an important part of cybersecurity because it can protect data from unauthorized access.
COURSE LAUNCHED IN FEBRUARY 2023
Beginners welcome: no need to know anything about Encryption!
The “Introduction to Encryption” course is your first step into encryption if you want to better secure your data and identity. If you’ve never had anything to do with encryption before, then this is the course for you.
This course “Introduction to Encryption” is one of 4 courses available in the Encryption Academy for Beginners and you will learn three important topics already here. And we’ll take a look at these now.
In the “Introduction to Encryption” course you will get an introduction to three important topics to better secure your data:
- “Hard- and Softwareencryption”
Nowadays we store important data on our notebooks and often we use portable USB devices to transport data. What happens if you lose these devices? Encryption can protect you from others being able to use your data. I will give you a short introduction to what encryption means and how it works in general. In the practical exercises, I will show you how to use a few small tools to encrypt your data quickly and easily.
- “Digital Signature”
The second big topic is digital signature. For example, when you send emails to your customers, how do they actually know that your emails are authentic? Any email format can be copied these days. In the SPAM folder we often get emails that look like they were sent by real companies but were created by hackers.
How do your recipients know that your emails are really from you?
In the course “Introduction to Encryption” you will learn how a digital signature works and how any data can be protected against manipulation.
In the practical exercise I already show you in the first course how you can calculate hash values over any files.
In this course I will also show you how to protect your PDF documents in Adobe Reader with a signed timestamp. With a timestamp you can have your document signed and thereby prove that your document existed at that time. I’ll show you how to do that in this tutorial.
- “Digital Certificate”
The third major topic you will learn in this academy is called “Digital Certificate“. How can you actually protect your digital identity? When you sign your e-mails or documents, for example, you need a confirmed digital identity. Each of us has an ID card, which we use to authenticate ourselves in the analog world. In the digital world, we can legitimize ourselves with digital certificates.
In the course “Introdcution to Encryption” I explain briefly how a digital certificate works. In the practical exercises I already show you how you can get a free digital certificate quickly and easily. This certificate is only for testing purposes. But you will already learn what is actually contained in it. You should already understand what information about you is secured. Additionally, I will show you how to sign a PDF document in Adobe Acrobat with this certificate.
- Bonus: “Password based Authentication” and “2-Factor Authentication”
As a bonus, I added the topics “Password based Authentication” and “2-Factor Authentication” in the first course. When we digitally authenticate ourselves on the Internet, we usually use a password. In this course I show you the disadvantages of passwordbased authentication and how a second factor can improve the security of your access.
In the practical exercise, I will show you the USB device YubiKey, which can be used for 2-factor authentication.
But the Yubikey can do even more. I’ll show you how to store your certificate with key material on it, for example, to digitally sign a PDF document in Adobe Acrobat.
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Encryption Academy for Beginners
This course “Introduction to Encryption” is one of 4 courses available in the Encryption Academy for Beginners. The other courses will be available soon.
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Instructor
I’m Mike Kurtze, an engineer from Germany and a senior software developer in the area of encryption since 2005. With my Encryption Academy for Beginners I want to show you with my knowledge and experience how encryption works and which tools you can use to protect your sensitive data.
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This course also comes with:
- Lifetime access to all future updates
- A responsive instructor in the Q&A Section
- Udemy Certificate of Completion Ready for Download
- A 30 Day “No Questions Asked” Money Back Guarantee!
Join me in this course if you want to learn how encryption works and and which tools you can use to protect your sensitive data.
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1
Welcome to your course -
2
Why we should encrypt data?
In this video, we explore the question of why we should encrypt our data. We all have important personal data or business documents that we store on our PC. But how are they protected from unauthorized access?
In this video you will learn the following Topics:
00:00:15- Alice and her Business
00:03:23 - Man in the Middle Attack
00:05:56 - Solution:encryption of data
00:07:01 - Solution:digital signature
00:08:18 - Solution:digital certificate
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3
Encryption -Terminologie
In this video, we first explore what the term "encryption" means and what their basic terms are. It is important to understand what terminology is used to encrypt data. What is encrypted data? What is an encrypted key? Watch the video and you will understand these terms.
In this video you will learn the following Topics:
00:00:27 - Term: Data (Document, Hash and Key)
00:03:32 - Term: Algorithm (symmetric, asymmetric)
00:08:30 - Term: Key (symmetric, public/private)
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4
Confidential of Data
In this video we look at how data is encrypted for confidentiality. This type of encryption is very complex, as it uses both symmetric and asymmetric encryption. In general, this process is called hybrid encryption.
In this video you will learn the following Topics:
00:00:15 - Term: Data (Document)
00:02:10 - Alice encrypt Data with symmetric algorithm
00:03:36 - Alice encrypt symmetric Key with asymmetric Algorithm
00:06:00 - What can Mallory do with encrypted data?
00:06:54 - Technologies
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5
Practical Exercise - Encryption with zip
In this tutorial you will encrypt data using the program 7zip. It's a very easy exercise and for those who have never encrypted their data before, this is an easy way to get started.
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Practical Exercise - Encryption with Cryptomator
In this tutorial I will show you the free tool Cryptomator, which you can also use to encrypt your data. Compared to the tool 7-zip, this software has more functions. For example, you can store several files immediately encrypted in your cloud.
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7
Integrity of Data
"Integrity of Data" means that the data must be verified to be complete and unchanged. For example, if a PDF document is digitally signed, then the text must not change. Likewise, no letters or words may be removed or added. Even spelling corrections may no longer be made, because these also change the text and therefore make the digital signature invalid.
In this video you will learn the following Topics:
00:00:23 - Term:Data(hash value from Document)
00:01:49 - Term:Algorithm(sha-256)
00:03:19 - Asymmetric Encryption of hash value
00:04:26 - Verification of Signature
00:05:44 - What can Mallory manipulate?
00:06:44 - Technologies
00:07:28 - Adobe E-Sign
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8
Practical Exercise - Verify Hash values in Windows
In this video I want to show you how programs in Windows are protected against manipulation. In the second part I want to show you how you can calculate hash values of files in Windows.
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9
Practical Exercise - Create a Timestamp in a PDF-Document
In this video I want to show you how to time stamp your PDF documents. How can you actually prove that your documents existed at a certain point in time? Let's take a look at this now.
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10
Authenticity with a digital Certificate
In this video i will explain how Authenticity works with a digital certificate. A digital certificate ca be used to uniquely identify the author of the message. All necessary information is stored there and digitally signed. Only if the signature is valid, then we can trust the certificate. But who issued the digital certificate to the owner? Can we trust the CA, those private key was used to sign the certificate?
In this video you will learn the following Topics:
00:00:22 - What is Authenticity?
00:01:45 - Authenticity and digital signature
00:04:11 - How can Authenticity checked?
00:05:00 - Authenticity and Mallory
00:06:13 -Technologies
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11
Practical Exercise - Apply for a digital Certificate
In this video I will show you how to apply for a free soft certificate. Such a certificate will be issued in your name and you can then use it to sign documents or emails.
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12
Practical Exercise - Install a Certificate in Windows
In this video I will show you how to install your soft certificate into the Microsoft certificate store. Windows has its own manager where all certificates are saved in logical locations. This allows you to automatically access your
certificates and keys with programs like Outlook or Adobe Acrobat, so you can use them to digitally sign your emails or PDF documents. This process is not nessessary, but makes it easier for you to use your certificate.
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13
Practical Exercise - Use a Certificate in Adobe Acrobat
In this video I'm going to show you how to sign a PDF document in Adobe Acrobat using the p12 file.
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14
Password-based Authentication and it's disadvantages
For most services on the internet you need your password to use them. Unfortunately, it doesn't protect
you in every attack scenario. In this video we will first look at password- based authentication and it's disadvantages, so that you understand why you should additionally secure your accounts.
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15
2-Factor-Authentication with App and SMS
In this video I'm showing you how 2 factor authentication works with SMS or an app.
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16
2- Factor-Authentication with FIDO2
In this video we're looking at how 2-Factor Authentication works using Security Key. By security key, I mean a hardware security device with which the user can also authenticate himself. Such devices can store private keys securely and also perform cryptographic operations. This kind of identity verification is of course highly recommended.
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17
Practical Exercise - Authenticate with Yubikey 5 Part 1
In this video I want to look at two topics about YubiKey. In the first part, I'll briefly show you the tools Yubikey Manager and Yubikey Authenticator, which are provided by Yubico, so you can secure your keys and accounts.
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18
Practical Exercise - Authenticate with Yubikey 5 Part 2
In this video I want to look at two topics about YubiKey. In the second part I will show you how to store and use your private key material in Yubikey.
