Encryption - Popular Encryption Technologies, Cutting-edge Encryption Schemes, Encryption In The E-commerce Arena

The Internet is an open and interconnected system that is both a boon and a hazard to businesses and consumers. On one hand, it makes the act of shopping, comparing, and purchasing extraordinarily quick and convenient. On the other hand, with so many people able to access information and potentially misuse it, there are justified fears of transferring sensitive information, such as credit card numbers and purchasing habits, over the Internet. To eliminate the hazards so that the benefits of e-commerce can be more widely enjoyed, encryption was developed. Encryption is the scrambling of sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, personal information, legal documents, confidential records, and even personal communications, in such a way that only authorized persons or organizations are able to decipher it.

Encryption is the fruit of cryptography, the study of codes and ciphers for the guarding of secret information. While crude (by contemporary standards) encryption methods have existed for centuries, modern encryption typically involves processing the concerned information with one or more mathematical algorithms using sophisticated computer technology, which allows for vastly more complex, and thus stronger, encryption schemes. However, while encryption technology has developed rapidly over the years, particularly in the 1990s and early 2000s, so have the skills of those who would seek to break encryption codes to steal, tamper with, or otherwise illicitly access sensitive data. As a result, the development of ever more impenetrable encryption methods amounts to an arms race between those aiming to protect information and those aiming to compromise it.

Encryption has a long and contentious history, pitting governments concerned with the security of unclassified domestic documents and information against technological libertarians, businesses, and privacy groups pushing for more open systems of encryption use and commerce, particularly in the international arena. By the 2000s, the latter groups were slowly emerging victorious in these debates, as the potentials of e-commerce gradually convinced governments to relax restrictions on the sale and export of encryption technologies. As a result, encryption was moving to its expected place as a key element in the development of e-commerce, finding increasing prominence in online transactions by way of digital certificates and digital signatures.