FACULTY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

COMP 105 INTRODUCTION TO DATA COMMUNICATION

Title : SECOND SEMESTER ASSIGNMENT TWO

Issue Date : WEEK 4
Due Date : WEEK 12
Lecturer/Examiner : MR SILLAH
ID.NO STUDENT’S NAME SIGNATURE
Abdulai Conteh
Yusuf A. Tholley
Daniel Abraham Sesay

Class : BICT
Semester/Year : 2 of 1

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What is Encryption?

Encryption is the process of taking information in one form (which can be read by humans),
and converting it to another form (which can't usually be read by humans). It is mathematically
based, and it makes use of an external piece of information, known as a key, to perform this
conversion. There are several different types of encryption, and they are used for various
things. Common examples include storing personal information on social websites like
Facebook, protecting information passed between your web browser and e-commerce websites
like Amazon, and the login credentials stored on your personal computer. In each case,
encryption is behind the scenes, working to protect you and your information.

What is Public Key Encryption?

Public key encryption is a form of encryption that uses two keys. A public key, which
everyone knows, and a private key, which only you know. To encrypt, the public key is applied
to the target information, using a predefined operation (several times), to produce a pseudo-
random number. To decrypt, the private key is applied to the pseudo-random number, using a
different predefined operation (several times), to get the target information back. The algorithm
relies on the fact that encryption is easy, and decryption is hard, making decryption impractical
without the key. It was the first system to allow secure information transfer, without a shared
key.
What is It Used for?

Public key encryption is used commonly today for securing communications between web
browsers, and e-commerce websites. In this scenario, the connection makes use of a Secure
Socket Layer (SSL) certificate, which is created from the public and private keys mentioned
above. The resulting pseudo-random number forms the basis for the certificate. The most
common algorithm used for this encryption process is RSA, named after the researchers that
initially proposed it (Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman). It is also the best understood algorithm, as
it has been studied for years by a variety of researchers.

What Is Symmetric Encryption?

Symmetric encryption is an encryption methodology that uses a single key to encrypt

(encode) and decrypt (decode) data. It's the oldest and most well-known technique for
encryption. The secret key can be a word, a number, or a string of letters, and it's applied to a
message. The message is changed following the rules in the key. Sender and receiver know the
key, and can thus code and decode any message that would use that specific key.

There are five main components of a symmetric encryption system: plaintext, encryption
algorithm, secret key, ciphertext, and the decryption algorithm. Let's look at these one at a
time.

1. Plaintext

The term plaintext refers to the original message that's created and sent into the encryption
method. Since you're bothering to encrypt it, the plaintext most likely contains sensitive data
that should not be seen by prying eyes.

The symmetric encryption example image shows a simple example of how symmetric
encryption works.
2. Encryption Algorithm

The encryption algorithm takes the plaintext and converts it into an unreadable format. A
simple example of an encryption algorithm would be changing all Ns to a 3, or all Zs to a 1. The
routine may perform several passes and changes, called permutations, on the plaintext. Once
it's encrypted, you'll need a key to unlock it.

3. Key

Think of the key as a decoder ring: the secret of the scrambled text cannot be read without the
key. The key holds the information on all the switches and substitutions made to the original
plain text.

In symmetric encryption, the key is actually bundled with the algorithm; in this sense, the
decoder ring is not universal. The changes and substitutions depend on the key, and vice versa
because the sender and recipient share the key.

4. Ciphertext

The ciphertext is the text that is now scrambled and ready to be sent. It may look like a
random stream of data, and is unreadable.

5. Decryption Algorithm

In the decryption algorithm, the secret key (the decoder ring) is applied to the ciphertext. It
converts it back to plaintext, basically performing the encryption in reverse.

Packet:

A packet is a small amount of data sent over a network, such as a LAN or the Internet. Similar
to a real-life package, each packet includes a source and destination as well as the content (or
data) being transferred. When the packets reach their destination, they are reassembled into a
single file or other contiguous block of data.

Data:

Computer data is information processed or stored by a computer. This information may be in

the form of text documents, images, audio clips, software programs, or other types of data.
Computer data may be processed by the computer's CPU and is stored in files and folders on
the computer's hard disk.

Data is a general term, designing more or less “the information”. A packet is a networking
term. It designs the basic data bloc exchanged between two nodes at the layer 3 network
layer.
What is Transport Layer?

The Transport Layer in the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model is responsible for end-
to-end delivery over a network. Whereas the network layer is concerned with the end - to- end
delivery of individual packets and it does not recognize any relationship between those packets.

• This layer treats each packet independently because each packet belongs to a different
message.

• The transport layer ensures that each message should reach its destination
completely and in order so that it maintains error and flow control to the source to
destination to ensure proper data transmission.

• The transport layer establishes a connection between two end ports. A connection is a
single logical path from source to destination which is associated with all the packets in
a message.

• Transport Layer uses some standard protocols to enhance its functionalities are
TCP(Transmission Control Protocol), UDP( User Datagram Protocol), DCCP( Datagram
Congestion Control Protocol), etc.

This figure shows the relationship of the transport layer to the network and session layer.

Transport Layer

Design Issues with Transport Layer

• Efficient delivery of data with proper correction.

• From the technological changes separate all upper layers.

• Managing error control and flow control.

• Obtaining data from the Session layer, divide it into segments and transmit to the
network layer.
Functions of the transport layer

Specific functions of the transport layer are as follows:

1. Service-point addressing

• Computers often run many programs at the same time. Due to this, source-to-
destination delivery means delivery from a specific job (currently running program) on
one computer to a specific job (currently running program) on the other system not only
one computer to the next.

• For this reason, the transport layer added a specific type of address to its header, it is
referred to as a service point address or port address.

• By this address each packet reaches the correct computer and also the transport
layer gets the complete message to the correct process on that computer.

2. Segmentation and Reassembly

• In segmentation, a message is divided into transmittable segments; each segment

containing a sequence number. This number enables this layer to reassemble the
message.

• Upon arriving at its destination system message is reassembled correctly, identify and
replaces packets that were lost in transmission.

3. Connection Control

It can be either of two types:

i. Connectionless Transport Layer

ii. Connection Oriented Transport Layer

i) Connectionless Transport Layer

• This Transport Layer treats each packet as an individual and delivers it to the destination
machine.

• In this type of transmission, the receiver does not send an acknowledgment to the
sender about the receipt of a packet. This is a faster communication technique.

ii) Connection Oriented Transport Layer

• This Transport Layer creates a connection with the Transport Layer at the destination
machine before transmitting the packets to the destination.

• To Create a connection following three steps are possible:

o Connection establishment

o Data transfer

o Connection termination
When all the data are transmitted connection is terminated. Connectionless Service is less
reliable than connection Oriented Service.

4. Multiplexing and Demultiplexing

• Multiple packets from diverse applications are transmitted across a network needs very
dedicated control mechanisms, which are found in the transport layer.

• The transport layer accepts packets from different processes. These packets are
differentiated by their port numbers and pass them to the network layer after adding
proper headers.

• In Demultiplexing, at the receiver's side to obtain the data coming from various
processes. It receives the segments of data from the network layer and delivers it to the
appropriate process running on the receiver's machine.

5. Flow control

• The transport layer also responsible for the flow control mechanism between the
adjacent layers of the TCP/IP model.

• It does not perform across a single link even it performs an end-to-end node.

• By imposing flow control techniques data loss can be prevented from the cause of the
sender and slow receiver.

• For instance, it uses the method of sliding window protocol in this method receiver
sends a window back to the sender to inform the size of the data is received.

6. Error Control

• Error Control is also performed end to end like the data link layer.

• In this layer to ensure that the entire message arrives at the receiving transport layer
without any error(damage, loss or duplication). Error Correction is achieved through
retransmission of the packet.

• The data has arrived or not and checks for the integrity of data, it uses the ACK and
NACK services to inform the sender.
Example of Transport Layer

• This figure shows an example data coming from upper layers have service point
addresses j and k ( j is the address of sending application and k is the address of the
receiving application).

• Since the data size is greater than the network layer can occupy. The data are divided
into two packets. Each packet containing the service point addresses ( j and k).

• In the network layer, network addresses (A and P) are combined with each packet.

• The packet may travel on different paths and arrive at the destination either in order or
out of order.

• The two packets are transmitted to the destination network layer. This is responsible for
removing the network layer headers.

• Two packets are now passed to the transport layer, where they are combined for
delivery to the upper layers.
Definition of TCP/IP MODEL

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) /IP (Internet Protocol) was developed by

the Department of Defense (DoD) project agency. Unlike OSI Model, it consists of four
layers each having its own protocols. Internet Protocols are the set of rules defined for
communication over the network.

TCP/IP is considered as the standard protocol model for networking. TCP handles data
transmission and IP handles addresses. The TCP/IP protocol suite has a set of protocols that
includes TCP, UDP, ARP, DNS, HTTP, ICMP, etc. It is a robust and flexible model. The TCP/IP
model is mostly used for interconnecting computers over the internet.

TCP/IP Model Layers

1. Network Interface Layer: This layer acts as an interface between hosts and
transmission links and used for transmitting datagrams. It also specifies what operation
must be performed by links like serial link and classic ethernet to fulfil the requirements
of the connectionless internet layer.

2. Internet Layer: The purpose of this layer is to transmit an independent packet into
any network which travels to the destination (might be residing in a different network).
It includes the IP (Internet Protocol), ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) and ARP
(Address Resolution Protocol) as the standard packet format for the layer.

3. Transport Layer: It enables a fault-free end-to-end delivery of the data between the
source and destination hosts in the form of datagrams. The protocols defined by this
layer are TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol).

4. Application Layer: This layer permits users to access the services of global or private
internet. The various protocols described in this layer are virtual terminal (TELNET),
electronic mail (SMTP) and file transfer (FTP). Some additional protocols like DNS
(Domain Name System), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and RTP (Real-time
Transport Protocol). The working of this layer is a combination of application,
presentation and session layer of the OSI model.

Definition of OSI Model

OSI (Open System Interconnection) model was introduced by ISO (International

Standard Organization). It is not a protocol but a model which is based on the concept of
layering. It has a vertical set of layers, each having different functions. It follows a bottom-up
approach to transfer the data. It is robust and flexible, but not tangible.

The main intent of OSI reference model is to conduct the designing and development of the
digital communication hardware, devices and software in a way that they can efficiently
interoperate.
The seven layers of OSI model are:

1. Application Layer: With this layer, the users can access the network by using
interfaces and services like electronic mail, shared database management, file
access/transfer and the other services.

2. Presentation Layer: Presentation layer focuses on the syntax and semantics of the
transmitting information. It performs tasks such as translation, encryption and
compression where the actual information existing in the form of character strings,
numbers, symbols is encoded into bit streams, converted into another form and
compressed.

3. Session Layer: This layer establishes the session between different machines in order
to synchronize and maintain the interaction between them. The services provided by the
session layer are dialog control, token management and synchronization.

4. Transport Layer: It accepts the data from its preceding layer in the form of
independent packets and transmits it to the succeeding layer in proper order. The other
function carried out by this layer are service point addressing, connection control,
segmentation and reassembly, flow control and error control.

5. Network Layer: Logical addressing and routing are the major operations performed by
the network layer. It translates the network logical address into physical MAC address so
that the two systems residing in the different networks could also communicate
efficiently. A packet also requires a path to be followed to reach at the destination
avoiding congestion and failed components, so it also facilitates the automatic updation
of the routes.

6. Data Link Layer: It is responsible for transforming the raw transmission service
(Physical layer) into a reliable link. It makes the physical layer free from error by
masking them so that the network layer does not notice them. In this layer, the input
data is split into frames. The tasks carried out in the data link layer are framing, access
control, physical addressing, error and flow control.

7. Physical Layer: It transmits the individual bits over the transmission channel. The
physical layer deals with the description of the characteristics of the interface between
the devices and the transmission media, representation of bits, synchronization of the
bits, data rate, physical topology, line configuration, transmission mode.

Key Differences Between TCP/IP and OSI Model

1. TCP/IP is a client-server model, i.e. when the client requests for service it is provided by
the server. Whereas, OSI is a conceptual model.

2. TCP/IP is a standard protocol used for every network including the Internet, whereas,
OSI is not a protocol but a reference model used for understanding and designing the
system architecture.

3. TCP/IP is a four-layered model, whereas, OSI has seven layers.

 4. TCP/IP follows Horizontal approach. On the other hand, the OSI Model supports Vertical
approach.

5. TCP/IP is Tangible, whereas, OSI is not.

6. TCP/IP follows top to bottom approach, whereas, OSI Model follows a bottom-up
approach.

The TCP/IP Model was developed before OSI Model, and hence, the layers differ. Concerning
the diagram, it is clearly seen that TCP/IP Model has four layers namely, Network Interface,
Internet, Transport and Application Layer.

On the other hand, OSI model has seven layers in which the data link and physical layers are
merged to make the network interface layer of TCP/IP model. Application Layer of TCP/IP is a
combination of Session, Presentation and Application Layer of the OSI Model.
Conclusion:

Concerning the above article, we can conclude that the TCP/IP Model is reliable over OSI Model,
TCP/IP is used for end to end connection so as to transmit the data over the internet.

TCP/IP is robust, flexible, tangible and also suggests how data should be sent over the web.
The transport layer of TCP/IP Model checks whether the data has arrived in order, it has an
error or not, lost packets are sent or not, acknowledgement is received or not, etc. In contrast,
the OSI model is just a conceptual framework to interpret how applications communicate over a
network.