systems go a crucial step beyond traditional passwords or security-access cards, by ensuring that the individual trying to log on is actually the authorized person; not just someone who found a key card in a desk or the Post-It note with a password under the keyboard. Biometric concepts include fingerprint recognition, voice authentication, face recognition and retinal scanning. These extreme measures of security show how important people consider their computer systems and information to be. One of the best ways to protect your information, however, is through data encryption as a possible solution. Data encryption comes from cryptography, which is the art and science of sending disguised messages so that only select people can see through the disguise. For everyone else the message appears as gibberish. Some encryption software includes DES, RSA, and PGP. DES (Data Encryption Standard) is the most well known cryptographic algorithm. DES has been the United States Governments official data encryption standard for use in protecting sensitive but unclassified data since late 1976. DES is a single key system, which means that DES uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt a message. The most common use for DES is when banks wire money amongst themselves and when ATM machines communicate with their central computer.RSA is a software encryption algorithm that is gaining worldwide acceptance. Unlike DES, RSA uses a public key to encrypt data and a second (secret) key to decrypt the same data. This double key permits you to distribute your public key openly, such as a telephone number. Anybody can send encrypted e-mail to you using your public key, but nobody can read your encrypted e-mail without your secret key and an accompanying secret pass phrase. Similarly, anybody can call your telephone number, but only you can answer your telephone number. This double key feature makes RSA very practical and popular. PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is an ...
