What is Encryption and Why Use It?

Encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm (called a cipher) to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing a special key to unlock the information. The unlocking process reverses the encryption and is know as decryption.

Encryption has long been used by militaries, diplomats and governments to facilitate secret communication, and it is now commonly used to protect information within many kinds of civilian systems. According to a 2007 report by the Computer Security Institute, 71% of the companies surveyed utilize encryption for some of their data in transit while 53% utilized encryption for some of their data in storage.

In recent years the use of encryption has increased substantially as more and more information has become accessible through the internet both while at rest on servers and while in transmission from one network to another. The internet is a wonderful resource that allows us to communicate instantly with anyone, virtually anywhere—but it has also allowed access to cyber criminals and electronic hackers who can steal millions of dollars in seconds.

While it is still safest to keep sensitive information on removable storage media such as portable external hard drives and flash memory drives, these can be lost, and this is not a practical security solution in many situations.

Encryption is particularly important for protecting credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, passwords, personal identification numbers (PINs), client lists, business plans and corporate intelligence. However, for many it is also important for concealing political dissent as well as opposition in the workplace.

The best known encryption is Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) developed by Philip R. Zimmermann, Jr. Originally designed as a human rights tool, PGP was published for free on the Internet in 1991. It is now owed by PGP Corporation (a part of Symantec).

There is no known method which will allow someone to break PGP encryption, and it has been described by computer security specialist Bruce Schneier as “the closest you’re likely to get to military-grade encryption”. Nevertheless, early versions of PGP have been found to have theoretical vulnerabilities, so new versions have been developed or recommended.

PGP and similar products follow the OpenPGP standard for encrypting and decrypting data. Defined by the OpenPGP Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in Proposed Standard RFC 4880, OpenPGP is today the most widely used eMail encryption standard in the world.

In most cases the impact of unwanted disclosure of information is negligible—but NOT ALWAYS! Do not discount encryption as too difficult, time consuming or expensive. It is not and in some cases is required by law. There is a good chance one day you will be glad you utilize it.