"Well, to start, encryption, in general, refers to encoding data in such a way that it's considered secure because only authorized users with a password or key can decrypt it. It is used to protect data. In the case of symmetric encryption, the same key is used to encrypt and decrypt, whereas when it comes to asymmetric encryption different keys are used, one public and one private. Symmetric encryption is typically faster to implement so it's usually the preferred method when data is being transferred in bulk, but asymmetric is considered more secure. In past positions, I've used both methods extensively and so feel comfortable using either."