Encryption

:This article is about algorithms for encryption and decryption. For an overview of cryptographic technology in general, see cryptography. For the movie, see Encrypt (movie)

Related Topics:
Cryptography - Encrypt (movie)

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In cryptography, encryption is the process of obscuring information to make it unreadable without special knowledge. While encryption has been used to protect communications for centuries, only organisations and individuals with an extraordinary need for secrecy have made use of it. In the mid-1970s, strong encryption emerged from the sole preserve of secretive government agencies into the public domain, and is now employed in protecting widely-used systems, such as Internet e-commerce, mobile telephone networks and bank automatic teller machines.

Related Topics:
Cryptography - Information - E-commerce - Mobile telephone - Automatic teller machine

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Encryption can be used to ensure secrecy, but other techniques are still needed to make communications secure, particularly to verify the integrity and authenticity of a message; for example, a message authentication code (MAC) or digital signatures. Another consideration is protection against traffic analysis.

Related Topics:
Message authentication code - Digital signature - Traffic analysis

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