Simple Concept, Complex Technology Simple Concept, Complex Technology Modern encryption programs are tough on hackers trying to crack into your computer system or e-mail messages. By Kaveh Ghaemian Products Editor N ot since World War II has encryption received so much attention. Germany, during that time, had some of the most able scientists and cryptographers, but the Allies cracked Germany's submarine codes and discovered valuable information on Germany's strategic plans. Today, encryption has become an important key in securing computer data from prying eyes. Users can encrypt files that contain sensitive data and protect them from theft or access by unauthorized co-workers or network hackers.
Information traveling between computers goes through numerous routes, systems and servers.
A hacker can intercept message packets in transit and attempt to reconstruct your message before it reaches its destination. Computer data security concerns are similar to those of any confidential communication. The reality is that the Internet is no more insecure than any other medium of commerce, such as bank, postal or telephone credit card transactions. Many experts predict that encryption will soon become an integral part of any application. While these applications feature less secure algorithms, their encryption is sufficient for most needs.