Cryptography
If you're not a programmer or don't know much about encryption but would still like to learn more, this post will cover just enough of the basics to get you started.
Cryptography is about "concealing" and "revealing" information so that only specific people can access it. It's used to secure important data and facilitate electronic transactions on the internet.
Cryptography can be used in different ways:
encryption - The process of turning a message into a code that is not understandable without a key. It's also known as "scrambling" or "hiding" information with a key. decryption - the process of turning the encrypted message back into a normal format using its key. authentication - verifying whether some information comes from a specific person or device digital signature - providing mathematical proof that some data comes from a certain place and hasn't been tampered with integrity - proving that data hasn't been tampered with while it was being sent over insecure network non-repudiation. - proving that some message or transaction has been done, and the sender can't deny it's been done
Cryptography is not generally used for online transactions. It only becomes necessary when online transfers are conducted between parties who don't trust each other. The security measures discussed here are called "encryption", even though they're really forms of authentication.
The first step in using encryption is to choose and create a key. A key is a specific sequence of letters and/or numbers that allows you to turn data into an encoded code which only your computer can read. For example: try entering "G" followed by three zeroes over and over again on the keyboard until you get a message saying "Rejected character 'G'.