Data Encryption

For those people who like to online shop, like me, you need to give important and secret information like addresses and credit card numbers to websites. But how are websites able to protect this information from hackers? Keep reading and I'll tell you!

This is done through a process called "data encryption", which converts the information into a code that can only be deciphered by the computer or person with a key. Although the idea of using secret codes dates all the way back to 1900 B.C., data encryption to protect information on computers became popularized around 1976. Computers use algorithms as a guide for encryption, and the means by which the information is actually converted into the code. There are two main ways this is done: symmetric-key encryption and public-key encryption.

Symmetric-key encryption requires that you know where the information will be sent so that the receiving computer can be prepared with the key to decipher the code. The first computer creates a unique key, translates the information into an unreadable message, sends the message to another computer, and the other computer uses the key to translate the message back to the original information. Today, most computers use the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) which creates keys that are either 128-, 192-, or 256-bits which, in its most basic form, can have more than 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 key combinations. 

Public-key encryption is more secure because it requires the use of two different keys to crack the code, the public key, like in symmetric-key encryption, and also a private-key, specific to every computer. The private key is based on prime numbers which makes it extremely secure, considering there is an infinite amount of prime numbers. The key itself is encrypted into a different message so that only computers' private keys can decode it. Then using the decoded key, the original information is also deciphered. 

These codes can get extremely extremely complex to decode, basically impossible. I'm thankful for it so now I can order as many shoes as I want online and not have my credit card information stolen! Neat!
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http://blogs-images.forbes.com/nextavenue/files/2013/01/7_steps_to_protect_your_online_security_148650499.jpg
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/encryption5.htm
https://www.digicert.com/ssl-cryptography.htm