Encryption is the transformation of text or data into a coded form that is close to impossible to read without a key to decode the message. This
scrambling of the message is done by using a mathematical formula making the message appear to be nonsense.
What are common uses for encryption?
Besides e-commerce applications (such as transmission of credit card numbers, account numbers, and other sensitive information), encryption is also
used by the military to guard secrets and pay-per-view television channels to only grant access to paying customers.
How does encryption work?
In the most basic terms, the sender encodes the message using a mathematical formula, which scrambles the message, then sends it. The recipient of
the message must then decode the message before it can be read using a special "key".
How secure is encryption?
The level of security of encryption is measured in terms of key length. The longer the key, the longer it would take someone without the correct
"decoder" to unscramble the code. This key length is measured in bits (e.g., 40-bit encryption, the level of encryption used with many ordinary
browsers, as opposed to 128-bit encryption, the level of encryption required by eBusiness ID's). For a 40-bit key there exists 240 possible
different key combinations.
According to Netscape, 128-bit encryption is 309,485,009,821,345,068,724,781,056 times more powerful than 40-bit encryption.
