In the last 10 years, the amount of capital raised in the markets has increased more than 1,000 percent. Internationally, the U.S. securities industry is a global leader. Our firms have operations around the world, from the largest money centers in London and Tokyo to the emerging markets of Latin America and Southeast Asia. Sophisticated information technology is largely responsible for the explosion of our international business. As technology facilitates our expansion into world markets, it also presents our firms with serious challenges to stay one step ahead of electronic pirates and con artists who would use the same technology to invade our firms' customer accounts and proprietary information.
Security is critical to the securities industry.
We have a responsibility to our customers and shareholders to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our data. Because encryption relies on complex mathematical formulas to scramble messages, encrypted messages cannot be read unless the receiver has a corresponding formula, or key, that will unscramble the message. The more bits of information used in an encryption key, the stronger it is considered to be and the more difficult it is for an unauthorized party to decode. Our firms also use encryption to authenticate the originator of information, including digital signatures. Given the sensitive nature of the information transmitted between our firms and their clients, it is imperative that our firms have the tools to ensure the confidentiality of their overseas business communications.