Encryption

Encrypting data means getting it transformed into a string of characters undecipherable by others.

What actually happens is that by using a secret-key i.e. the equivalent of a code (see glossary), the cryptography system transforms your data into gibberish. If the scrambling of the data is done properly, the original file can only be unscrambled and read by someone who knows the secret key i.e. the code used to encrypt the file.

Encrypting a file ensures that even if someone gets access to your computers/he would not be able to read the data stored there. Encrypted files can safely be sent by e-mail or placed on a network with the assurance that the data can be read only by those who were meant to have it.

Basic encryption systems have been used to protect secrets for many centuries. But today's encryption methods are far more sophisticated and reliable than ever before because the encryption code itself is a very complex computational transformation that is only feasible with desktop machines in the early 1990s.

Why encrypt?

While it is well known that letters can be intercepted and phone lines can be tapped, it is not so well known that even e-mails can be easily read. In fact it is commonly believed that the login password provides privacy and security.

This is not actually so!

There are also a number of more sophisticated methods and a wide range of equipment by which all electronic communication can be intercepted. These are used primarily by government agencies, but can also be employed by business rivals and competitors.

Such agencies can also use specially designed softwares that can automatically search all e-mails and faxes passing through a particular phone network for keywords, or analyse phone calls digitally. So even if you are using unlisted numbers, or public call offices and cybercafes, your communication can be traced and intercepted by picking up commonly used terms or phrases.

Hence, encryption, using AEP2009 software, is the only guaranteed way to protect your privacy.

How does encryption work?

When you use encryption, your data gets converted into meaningless symbols by using a key, which is nothing but the code that helps you to encrypt or decrypt data.

The more random the method of key conversion, the stronger the encryption will be. A pass phrase generally needs to be easy to remember, so it has significantly less randomness than its length suggests. For example, a 20-letter English phrase, rather than having 20 x 8 = 160 bits of randomness, only has about 20 x 2 = 40 bits of randomness.

So, cryptographic software converts a pass phrase into a key through a process called ``hashing'' or ``key initialization.'' (see glossary)

At the heart of the process is the algorithm (see glossary), which is devised so as to make deciphering the encrypted file impossible without using the secret key. Some of the popular encryption algorithms include Blowfish, DES, Diffie-Hellman, IDEA, RC4, RSA and Skipjack. Many of these use 64 and 128 bit encryption systems i.e. devise keys of 2*64 or 2*128 length.

What can I do to be safe?

Each time you work with sensitive data, or wish to communicate with someone else confidentially, you must use AEP2009 to protect your files. (The Help Menu provides a step-by-step guide of how this is to be done).

Ensure that all you stored information is also encrypted so that it is safe from the eyes of snoopers, competitors or uninvited investigators.

And when getting rid of old files or data, don't just delete them, use the built in Shred function in the programme to be absolutely safe.