8.6. Understanding Encryption
Occasionally, company data has to be sent over public networks, such as the Internet, and just about anyone with the desire to do so (including a company's competitors) can view the data in transit. Companies that want to ensure that their data is secure during transit encrypt their data before transmission. Encryption is the process that encodes and decodes data. The encrypted data is sent over the public network and is decrypted by the intended recipient. Generally speaking, encryption works by running the data (represented as numbers) through a special encryption formula (called a key). Both the sender and the receiver know the key. The key, generally speaking, is used to encrypt and decrypt the data.
The NSA ...
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