Cryptographic failures happen when important information is not well protected using secret codes, scrambling, or safe key handling. This can cause information to be seen by others, unauthorized entry, and data problems, especially when weak secret codes, bad key storage, or sending data in plain text are involved. Attackers use these weaknesses to steal login details, unscramble secret information, or change scrambled data.
Common Mistakes:
- Using Weak or Old Secret Code Methods (MD5, SHA-1, DES, RC4)
- Keeping Important Information Without Scrambling It
- Sending Data Over Unprotected Paths (Missing HTTPS/TLS)
- Unsafe or Built-In Secret Keys
- Not Managing Keys Properly (Using Keys Again or Showing Them)
- Not Setting Up Scrambling Correctly (Weak Starting Codes, ECB Mode Usage, Broken Padding)
To make these risks less likely, applications should use strong secret code rules (AES-256, SHA-256, TLS 1.2+), make sure HTTPS is used for all data sending, keep and change secret keys safely, and follow good rules for scrambling passwords (bcrypt, Argon2, PBKDF2). Regular security checks should also be done to make sure secret codes are safe.