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Encryption and authenticationEncryption is the process of encoding plain understandable text into unreable text. The process uses a cipher, which is an algorithm to jumble up the text. Encryption was first used by the military to protect sensitive transmissions. Perhaps the most famous use of encryption was the Enigma machine by the German military during World World Two. As many of you will know, the enigma machine's encryption algorithm was broken by the allies. Encryption is now a popular process for protecting sensitive computer data. And in particular Email, which is susceptible to interception by hackers. Government employees with sensitive data on a laptop, usb stick or cd-rom have been known to lose the storage device and for millions of private details to be accessed. Encryption can obviously play a key role in protection in such a circumstance. The availability of a public encryption application is a fairly recent development. In nineteen ninety one Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) was created by one Phil Zimmermann. Since then three public encryption protocols have come to prominence,
Enabling email encryption is but a one click function in most free email clients and webmail services. |
