Encryption is vital to protect our privacy.

Most of the Internet users have no idea how important encryption is and how often they use it. Encryption plays a critical role in our security and privacy.

Since ancient times people have encoded messages in order to deliver them to the recipients securely. In their turn recipients must have a key or use other methods to be able to decode and read messages. Ancient Greeks and Egyptians are known to use cyphers during their military campaigns. The most well-known ancient technique is called Caesar’s Cypher, named after Julius Caesar. It is a simple substitution cypher, where characters are shifted up or down in alphabet positions. Cryptography as a science started appearing during World War II when Germany began using complex cyphers to encode their radio communications and allied forces tried to crack German codes.

Modern cryptography is an extensive science that combines mathematics, electrical engineering, and computer science. It uses complex algorithms in order to encrypt and decrypt data. Usually, encryption involves private and public keys that make it almost impossible to crack the code from the outside.

Long gone are the days when cyphers and encryption were used only by governments, armed forces, and spies. Millions of people around the world use encryption every day without even knowing it. When we send emails, pay for goods or services online, send iMessages on the iPhone, we use encryption of some level. Encryption has started playing a vital role in our everyday life. It allows us to communicate and make transactions in a safe and secure way. It is easy to understand if your connection in the browser is encrypted, just take a look at the address line, if the address starts with https (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) in the beginning, that means that the connection is encrypted.

There is no doubt that encryption protects us and keeps our life more private and secure; however, on the other hand, there are criminals, terrorists, and other people who may try to harm us by using encrypted communication. There is a lot to consider before giving up our privacy to protect ourselves, but it must be our choice, and we should do it as a society.

Sources:

The NSA and cryptography (Cracked credibility). (2013, September 14). The Economist. http://www.economist.com/news/international/21586296-be-safe-internet-needs-reliable-encryption-standards-software-and