We believed the automobile had changed the world and we were correct. We thought the telephone had affected the world and we were right. We considered the computer had influenced the world and indeed it did. Now, the Internet has altered the way we work, communicate and interact with our trading partners. You could say we have drastically transformed our ways.

"Encryption technology can offer a protected communication avenue even if the system and network infrastructure isn't secure."

Remember when (you might be too young to remember the movies and history books) but try to recall when a simple letter, was sealed, hand delivered and locked safely under the pillow. Those days are forgotten. Now, we are sophisticated and slick. Everything is sent, communicated and stored electronically.

With a swan dive plunging in full speed ahead, we eagerly commit ourselves and voluntarily accept these new advancements projecting endless exciting opportunities. We envisioned a one stop online commercial and private banking; access to endless information and research; global communications to keep abreast of worldwide news, stock reports, discoveries, and worldwide upheavals.

On this same note we began purchasing and selling real estate, intangible and tangible assets; bidding and selling goods; and even buying a boat in Finland without ever seeing it physically.

And these wonderful developments and enhancements technology endorses are now challenged with alarming threats of privacy and security. So, online security is essential for consumer confidence. Rising unease has led to the widespread involvement of the private and public sector as well as worldwide cooperation to find cost effective and efficient solutions to unsecured communications in order to apply security operation properly.

Many people have never heard of encryption, a significant tool for security purposes. Encryption technology can offer a protected communication avenue even if the system and network infrastructure isn't secure. Encryption is definitely a positive security tool, when you think of all the data that passes through shared systems.

Almost everyone sends some sort of private and personal information. This information is transmitted via general networks enabling a large sample of the population to have access to this priveledged information. Because there are so many situations like this, sensitive data and passwords are encrypted.

Are you wondering what Encryption really is?

Encrypting, or coding, has being used by businesses to protect important information for a very long time. It is a procedure involving a mathematical transformation of information which provides protection by transforming it into an unreadable format "cipher text".

An algorithm uses a key by associating a large a large number to a password or pass phrase. Once this is established the key is converted into basic text which turns into numbers or a string of character. As a result, the encrypted text is readable only by the owner of the corresponding key which is called decryption.

With today's inconceivable widespread flow of information, the use of cryptography to protect emails, credit card information and corporate data is increasing accordingly. The further the information travels, the more it is exposed to tampering, eavesdropping, or message forgery. Even encrypted messages are vulnerable and not immune to be broken by cryptanalysts, or code-breakers.

We can broadly classify cryptography into two different systems, Symmetric Encryption and Public-key Asymmetric Encryption. Symmetric encryption uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt. Although simpler and faster, the two parties must exchange keys in a secure way. The exchange of keys in a secure manner can be considered by some to be a major drawback. A standard called DES (Data Encryption Standard) is most commonly used and employs a 56-bit key.

The Public Encryption Asymmetric Method uses two keys. The first key is a public-key that can be distributed in a non-secure way, and a second private or secret key to decrypt, which is never transmitted. These keys correlate together making it virtually impossible to deduct the private key from the public key.

Public key technology is common because it provides a safe means of communication and a secure channel between computer programs. Another reason public key technology is useful is it provides security for e-mail, it also helps protect information sent between web browsers and web servers. A public key system is beneficial because if you are using it for securing your messages or personal authentication, you get to create and keep your own secret.

One example of the public key encryption is PGP, or Pretty Good Privacy. It is reliable, user friendly, and free of restrictions. PGP was developed by a programmer and activist named Philip Zimmerman. Being that it was extremely secure, free to use, and accessible it became a mainstream commercial product. Fearing it would fall into the wrong hands, the US. Government filed a lawsuit petitioning that PGP not be in the public domain, therefore making it available to enemies of the US.

Claiming that these encryption methods are so amazingly powerful and effective the US government wishes to assume some control over the encryption algorithm, thereby succeeding in the ability to decipher any messages they want recovered. The method adopted by the government was the development and commercial acceptance of the Clipper Chip, requiring it to be installed in any device that might use encryption, including computers, modems and telephones.

The plan was to carry out surveillance on enemies of the state using encryption to protect their evil messages. But the Clipper Chip produced a massive negative reaction from both the computer industries and the public in general. Subsequently, the government withdrew its original plan. Demands from the U.S. business community, argued that if such measures were adopted it would result in declining computer sales and suffocating the expansion of electronic commerce. The government came back with a revised policy relaxing many of the bureaucratic burdens from businesses exporting encryption. Today with Sept 11th behind us and the knowledge that our enemies are using encryption to hide their messages, this whole topic has once again come to light.

Another reason for the wide spread popularity of PGP encryption is due to the size of the keys used. In the PGP case, keys may be either 512, 768 or 1024 bits, offering a very high level of protection. Even with today's powerful computers, it may take years to hack information protected by these keys.

It is important to try to verify yourself to a computer without exposing your privacy. If a password is sent it can be intercepted. There have been reformed alerts for renewed guidelines and restrictions on the abuse and access of strong encryption products. Some have been endorsing a new era on encryption, which would grant enforcement officials access to private keys. Obviously we now face once again the issue of individual's fundamental privacy rights.