Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S1W3 – Blockchain through the concepts by @anyiglobal

Good day everyone, welcome to the week 3 of the steemit engagement challenge season 1. The first and the second week was successful, and I believe this week will too be.

In this steemit engagement challenge week 3, it is demanded from us to write on any of our favorite concept or term as related to Blockchain. So, on this context will I discuss with you my favorite concept as related to Blockchain.

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1. Tell us about your favorite concept or term related to blockchain

There are numerous terminologies that exists in the book of Blockchain, but my favorite blockchain concept or term is Cryptography. It interests me alot to write on this concept because it is one of the best security method to be adopted in the cyberspace. Blockchain technology uses cryptography and hashing functions to make the network immutable, reliable, and incorruptible by a third party. We all know that Blockchain works on P2P (peer-to-peer) network, which means having multiple nodes without a central server. All the nodes on a blockchain network can communicate to each other directly.

What is Cryptography?

Cryptography is gotten from two Greek words, "Kryptos" meaning "hidden" and "graphene" meaning "to write". Therefore, cryptography simply means writing in secret messages. Similarly, it is a process of developing technique or protocols to prevent an unauthorized access or a third party from gaining knowledge of the data sent through the network during communication process between nodes in the network.

The two main concepts related to cryptography are Encryption and Decryption. There are four major challenges faced by information security on a network that led to the concept of Cryptography. They are:

• Confidentiality
• Integrity
• Non repudiation
• Authenticity

Confidentiality means that information sent between two nodes on a network must be confidential between the sender and the receiver, no third party can have access to the information being sent through the network. For example, Node A sends message("Hi") to Node B. Only node B must know the message sent to him by node A.

Integrity means that the information sent through the network from one node to the other must remain the same, it must not be modified by a third party. For example, if node A sends "Hi" to node B, the message must remain "Hi" when it gets the node B, it must not be changed to "Hello" when it gets to node B.

Non repudiation means that the communication between node A and node B must not be denied, there must be a proof to show that Communication ensued between node A and node B on the network. This is achieved by Digital Signature Reference on the Blockchain to identify and confirm the sender and receiver of transactions.

Authentication means that the information sent from node A to node B must be authentic, that is, it must come from the original sender of the information. The information must not be modified by a third party before reaching to the original receiver of the information. For example, a third party might intercept an information transmitting through a network and make some modifications to the information claiming to be the original sender of the information without the knowledge of the receiver of the information!

It is in view of these challenges that the concept of Encryption and Decryption of information on a blockchain network emerge. Encryption is the process of converting a plain text into a cipher text to make it unreadable to a third party using complex encryption algorithms. While Decryption is the reverse of encrypted text, that is, it is process of converting a ciphertext back into it's original form (plain text). To achieve encryption and decryption of information, Key is used.

This will now take us to types of Cryptography. Types of Cryptography are:

• Symmetric key Cryptography, and
• Asymmetric key Cryptography

Symmetric Cryptography is the first cryptographic method adopted by the Blockchain technology. In this type of Cryptography, two nodes use only one private key to encrypt and decrypt information. This method is faced by some drawbacks, which makes the Blockchain technology to advance to the latter, "Asymmetric key Cryptography".

Rather than securing messages, Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies make use of Asymmetric key Cryptography or Public key Cryptography till date to secure the transactions that occurs on the Blockchain, and Hashing function to secure block information and links to the next block in the Blockchain. Bitcoin makes use of SHA-256 hashing Algorithm to secure transactions performed on the Blockchain.

Cryptocurrencies make use of two keys to encrypt and decrypt Information. The two keys are the Public keys and the Private keys. The Public key(also known as wallet address) is used to send and receive cryptocurrencies, and it is made available publicly on the network to everyone. while Private key is a unique key used for authentication of transactions when spending cryptocurrencies.

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2. Why do you think it is important in the blockchain?

The importance of Cryptography in the Blockchain technology cannot be overemphasized! I think it is important because of the following:

• Highly Secured: Hashing function and the use of key-cryptography makes the peer-to-peer Network highly Secured. The hashing function is a cryptographic algorithm that forseen the conversion of any input length to a fixed length output, and anytime hash function converts plaintext to ciphertext, it becomes almost impossible to decrypt. And in order to generate digital signature for spending cryptocurrencies, the hash function is combined with the private key to achieve that.

• Reliability: For the fact that cryptography uses a secure Algorithm to encrypt and decrypt Information, it is a trustworthy network.

• Enhances Confidentiality: With cryptography, transaction information transmitted on the network from one node to another remains private to the communicators.

• Maintains Integrity of information: Information sent through a public domain cannot be altered or modified with the concept of Cryptography.

• Authentication of information: Cryptography provides a mechanism in which the sender and the receiver of information identify and confirm the authenticity of the information before it gets to it's destination.

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3. Do you think that the existence of the blockchain would be possible without this concept? Is there an alternative or similar term?

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I don't think Blockchain could've existed without cryptography. The concept Of cryptography has already been there since the creation of Blockchain technology. Cryptography made the use of cryptocurrencies which is the main application of Blockchain possible. It is used to provide security to the data recorded on the Blockchain and also helps in authenticating transactions.

The similar term to cryptography is steganography, although steganography involves hiding the existence of messages, but it is not encrypted unlike cryptography.

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4. Do you think it is possible to improve this term in some way? Explain us how

Yes it is possible to improve cryptography. I know you're now eager to know how, lol... Anyway, the possible way or ways of improvement is not that much.

The cryptographic concept can be improved by using stronger encryption Algorithms since the attackers are always patient when trying to decode an encrypted text. The attackers can use brute force algorithm exhausting every possible solution to make sure that they achieve their goal, however stronger algorithms like SHA-256 Algorithm can be adopted by all the blockchains to achieve their cryptographic hash functions.

The private keys which are used to sign transactions must be kept in highly Secured place such that a third party can't have access to it in any way.

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CONCLUSION

Cryptography in Blockchain technology has proven to be the best security method because of the concept of public key cryptography and hashing function! Before an encrypted text can be decrypted by the receiver, the receiver must know the decryption Algorithm using the private key. However, in cryptocurrency, public key also known as wallet address is used to send and receive cryptos, and it is made public to everyone on the network.

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Thanks for engaging in this post. Am glad having you all as friends on this great platform. Remain blessed!!

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I am @anyiglobal, a Computer Scientist, Software Engineer and a Blogger!

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Regards to,
@crypto-academy