ENCRYPTION/SECURITY

In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information. Encryption has long been used by militaries and governments to facilitate secret communication. Encryption is now commonly used in protecting information within many kinds of civilian systems. Encryption is also used to protect data in transit, for example data being transferred via networks (e.g., the Internet, e-commerce), mobile telephones, wireless microphones, wireless intercom systems, Bluetooth devices, and automated teller machines.

Encryption, by itself, can protect the confidentiality of messages, but other techniques are still needed to protect the integrity and authenticity of a message. Standards and cryptographic software and hardware to perform encryption are widely available, but successfully using encryption to ensure security is still a challenging problem. A single slip-up in system design or execution can allow successful attacks. By using different radix keys, encryption can be better encoded in fewer bits and provide another level of obscurity.