Understanding why encryption is important

Encryption is taking a plain text message and turns it into a ciphertext by using a key or a key pair. The result is a meaningless message unless you have a key to decipher the text. Encryption is the most effective way to secure digital data. For example, we can use the PGP encryption to encrypt our message. Click here to try.

There are two main types of encryptions, Symmetric, and Asymmetric encryption. Symmetric key encryption is also called conventional encryption and Asymmetric encryption is also called Public Key encryption. Most of the time a hybrid cryptosystem is used to employed both methods.

Click here and scroll down to section 1.1 for more information about the need for information security