When we visit a website that features that little padlock in the corner of our browser we’re trusting it to keep our data safe and whether it’s our credit card numbers, sensitive work documents are those questionable photos that you told your friend not to take. Various types of encryption standards ensure that they are kept out of the prying hand of e-truders. while the zip around on the internet but aside from the re assuring little icon on your computer screen what’s actually going on, what is encryption?
Whenever you transfer encrypted information, your computer turns that data into an unintelligible mess or “CYPHERTEXT” that can only be put back into readable form by unlocking with a key of some sort that tells the receiving computer how to decode the incoming message. This basic concept has actually been used to send secret messages since long before the invention of computers, ciphers are various kinds have been used for thousands of years and that could encode and decode messages were in use before the modern pc ever came along. Thomas Jefferson invented a wheel cipher that was nothing than wooden discs around an axel and then the germens famously used a typewriter like device called the enigma machine to encrypt military messages during world war two although, allies were able to crack that code.
Now back to web era, modern electronics often use a widespread encryption, suppose you want to send an email, When you click send the receiving computer with what’s called a public key.”A public key is generated by the computer just randomly choosing a very large number and running it through some mathematical function”, once you computer receivers this public key it uses the key to lock the email using the special algorithm then sends it on its way now since any one can request a public key from a computer the public key can’t be used to unlock a message otherwise anyone could intercept and read your encrypted email that would defeat the purpose instead the recipients computer unlocks the message with a private key that is stored on that system alone making it mercifully impossible for anyone else to view the terrible poetry you sent your girlfriend that has her rethinking things.
Public key isn’t just used for email. It’s actually the basis of tons of websites that require you to sign in securely. if you’ve ever clicked on that little padlock and saw a mention of SSL or TSL user to implementation of public key encryption that are widely used by Google, Facebook, Microsoft and many more to make sure that only you can access your data and change your settings.
Now once the sensitive data actually arrives at the destination there are a number of the encryption methods used to make sure it can sit on computer or sever safely for example you probably have a password and credit card numbers stored with Amazon for example, now how do they keep this thing safe often web servers will hash your password, meaning that they’re converted into encrypted strings of text through a process that is extremely difficult to reverse and can’t be unlocked with a key now with all that said it is important to remember that no system of encryption is perfect. Experts in the field are constantly searching for weakness in encryption algorithms and devising new once to out smart hackers.
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