BATTLE OF SECURITY ON THE INTERNET

Have you ever solved an anagram? Have you ever purchased something online or used computer to access your bank records? If so, you have entered the worlds of codes, encryption, and decryption.

Until recent times, secret codes usually involved governments, ambassadors, spies, and military. But not anymore. With the advent of computers and the internet, valuable data are often kept secrets by a number of elements, including passwords, which are authenticated every time users access their records. Indeed, never before has secrecy played such big role in everyday life.
Hence, we may rightly ask: How safe is my confidential data? Can I do more to heighten security? Before considering these questions, reflect for a moment on the long battle between code makers and code breakers- a conflict that is as old as writing itself.

TECHNOLOGICAL TUSSLE

The 20th century, especially the two world wars, took cryptography to a new level of sophistication involving complex machines, such as the German Enigma, a machine much like a typewriter. When an operator entered a plain text, a succession of electrically wired rotors encrypted the message. The cipher text was then sent via Morse code and decrypted by another Enigma. Nevertheless, errors and a negligent approach by over worked operators gave code breakers vital clues that enable them to decrypt messages.
In today’s digital world, banking, money transfers, and payments – as well as medical, corporate, and government records are secured by means of complex encryptions. The cipher text, in turn, is read by those who have the necessary decryption key to restore the data to its original form.
Whereas a metal key usually has set of grooves, a digital key is a string of zeros and ones in various combinations .Longer keys have more combinations and are thus harder to crack. An eight-bit key, for example, 256 has possible combinations, or permutations, whereas a 56-bits key has more than 72 quadrillion permutations. The present standard for encrypted web browsing is 128-bits keys, which have 4.7 sextillion times more permutations than 56-bits keys! Still security breaches do occur. In 2008, for instance, federal prosecutors in the United States charged eleven (11) men with what is thought to be the largest-ever case of identity theft. The group allegedly used laptop computers, wireless technology, and special software to capture numbers from credit cards and debit cards used for payment at cash registers.

SAFETY OF YOUR CONFIDENTIAL DATA

To be sure, the encryptions protecting your bank account and online transactions are extremely hard to crack. Yet, much also depends on you. The Bible says: “Shrewd is the one that has seen the calamity and proceeds to conceal himself, but the inexperienced have passed along and must suffer the penalty (Proverb 22:3). So, be shrewd and “conceal” yourself , as it were from fraud and theft by doing at least the following:

§ Use anti-virus software on your PC.
§ Employ a spyware –detection program.
§ Install firewall
§ Keep all the above continually updated, and install security updates for your operating system.
§ Beware of links or attachments in e-mail or instant messages, especially if the e-mail is unsolicited and asks for your personal information or verification of a password.
§ When transmitting sensitive data, such as credit card details, use encrypted connections, and log off the web site when you’re done.

§ Choose passwords that are hard to guess, and protect them.
§ Do not copy or run software from unknown sources.
§ Regularly back up files, and safely store the copies.

If you follow those basic precautions and apply any others that may be advisable now and in future, you’ll at least improve your chances of winning your own battle for confidentiality and security.

NOTE: A quadrillion is 1 followed by 15 zeros. A sextillion is 1 followed by 21 zeros
Also note: Encrypted web pages on the web browsers have security symbols, such as a lock symbol or “https://” in the address bar. The s means secure

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