REVIEW OF THE ROLE OF ENCRYPTION PROTOCOLS IN PROTECTING NETWORK COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS.

Abstract

Digital communication technologies have rapidly developed providing capacity and giving rise of transmission of sensitive information over computer networks. Whether it is an organization, a government department, or financial institutions, everyone needs safe communication systems to secure sensitive information from unauthorized access, cyberattacks, and data breaches. But growing risk of cyber threats like eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, ransomware, spoofing, phishing, session hijacking and interception of data put holes in the network communication system. Encryption protocols have evolved to ensure confidentiality, integrity, authentication of information and non-repudiation. A systematic Literature Review of Encryption Protocols for Secure Network Communication Systems and a Conceptual Framework. It reviews popular encryption algorithms such as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES); Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA); Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC); Transport Layer Security (TLS); Internet Protocol Security (IPSec); Secure Shell (SSH), Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and End-to-End Encryption E2EE. The results show that contemporary encryption protocols dramatically mitigate the risks of unauthorized access, data interception and cyber espionage while enabling secure online banking, cloud computing, e-commerce and Internet of Things (IoT) communications. However, challenges ranging from computational power overhead to weak key management to implementation bugs and the advent of quantum computing still pose risks for cryptographic security. The report advises various measures to protect networks, such as modern encryption standards, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), Zero Trust security principles, multi-factor authentication, continuous cryptographic updates and quantum-resistant encryption algorithms.