Role of Authentication and Digital Signatures
Introduction
With the increasing changes in technology, there are increasing impacts on the society
who are affected directly or indirectly by the technology. There have been different preferences
by businesses and also organizations on the type of technology they are implementing to help the
solve day to day lives. Some of them include digital signatures which are public-key primitives
of message authentication. This is a digital way through which personal data and entity is
ensured on the digital data. This helps protect documents, data, and information from
unauthorized access (Howe, 2015). Due to an increase in technology, there is the need to protect
any sensitive information so that it does not land on unauthorized hands. Criminals and hackers
might use such information to manipulate government projects and agents with the aim of
benefiting from it (Sindhu, 2016). Many corporations in the world, such as Yahoo and Microsoft,
have all fallen victims of data breaching and cost them millions of dollars in damages, fines, and
also legal fees. Digital signatures use digital appendages that uses some form of cryptography ad
also digital certificates as certification documents. With evolving technology, it is essential for
digital methods methods to be put into practice so as to decrease the chances of hacking and
threats.
Thesis: Authentication using digital signatures have ensured that documents for individuals have
been protected from landing on unauthorized hands. With the concept, organizations and
individuals have seen tremendous increase in safety of documents, and also saving time and
money.
Purpose
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The article will play a critical part in giving an insight into digital signatures and
authentication and how people should prepare for the future in digital protection of documents. It
will also provide an idea of how people and organizations have continued to be affected by
cybercrimes, which have continued to deprive them of millions of dollars (Alrehily, 2015). The
rise of technological advances has proven to play an integral role in our daily lives. One of the
drawbacks of living in a technology-dependent society is that we must face the threats that it
comes with. In the past decades, experts and also world governments have continued to work
around the clock to understand how hackers are able to break into firewalls and VPNs to attack
and manipulate data. An emphasis on securing digital infrastructures can provide reliable
services to many by protecting sensitive or classified information.
Relevance and Significance
The threats on having digital documents not being protected have continued to be
devastating and required organizations to improve their defensive systems so as to protect
information vital to them. Most of the dangers and also attacks have been made through emails
and even as an attachment. There are different types of malware that have continued to be a
threat to many networks and programs. Ransomware, a variety of malware that encrypts data,
then extorts a ransom in order to unlock releases any information available to the hacker or
unauthorized person (Krishna, 2017). Hacking has continued to be a popular way through which
people access networks and information without being authorized and attempt to exploit the
information in the system and also gather information which would then be used to damage the
system physically. Insider threats have been one of the most significant ways through which
hackers are able to get access to different systems. Employees at the workplace can give out the
information which would then be used to tamper with the networks but can also occur
ROLE OF AUTHENTICATION AND DIGITAL SIGNATURES 4
unintentionally.
It is imperative to be aware that past threats can act as the foresight to help understand the
future and also enable us to prepare well while having enough understanding of how such crimes
can cause organizations billions in damages. As a way of ensuring that information is being
protected and kept safe, it is important for organizations as well as individuals to make use of
digital signatures as a way of authentication and protection of data and information. Digital
signatures are important as they reduce the risk of data duplication and also prevent the alteration
of the document itself. They also ensure that the documents have been verified legitimate and
also authentic. Signatures are provided accompanied by PINs, passwords, and also codes which
are important as they ensure the documents will only open when verified by the owner (Paul,
2017) . As such, organizations save money, time, and also space through the use of digital
signatures for authentication. They have made it easier for managers to keep records and also
human resource managers have an easier time protecting information.
Conclusion
There have been adverse effects as a result of unauthorized access of information inf
different organizations across the globe, with many companies such as Yahoo paying millions of
dollars several times in fines and also legal fees. In the past few years, there has been an
improvement in terms of how companies monitor their information, hiring some of the best IT
technicians to protect their data. In the recent past, hackers have continued to change their tactics
in response to the changes in cybersecurity being observed by organizations.
References
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Alrehily, A. D., Alotaibi, A. F., Almutairy, S. B., Alqhtani, M. S., & Kar, J. (2015).
Conventional and improved digital signature scheme: A comparative study. Journal of
information Security, 6(01), 59.
Howe, J., Pöppelmann, T., O’neill, M., O’sullivan, E., & Güneysu, T. (2015). Practical lattice-
based digital signature schemes. ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems
(TECS), 14(3), 1-24.
Krishna, A., Narayana, A., & Murthy, S. (2017). A hybrid digital signature scheme on
dependable and secure data. International Journal of Electronics and Information
Engineering, 6(2), 87-93.
Paul, E. (2017, September 12). What is Digital Signature- How it works, Benefits, Objectives,
Concept. Retrieved August 02, 2020, from emptrust:
https://www.emptrust.com/blog/benefits-of-using-digital-
signatures#:~:text=Digital%20signatures%20reduce%20the%20risk,identity%20and%20
approve%20their%20signatures.
Sindhu, B., & Noorullah, R. M. (2016). Secure Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm for
Internet of Things. Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology.