Last Thursday when I was sitting around the Thanksgiving table with my friends and family, (and they asked me what my new job was about), I was surprised to find out that many of them didn’t know the word encryption – but they all knew what it was – and many of them had seen encryption in the movies.
First: What is Encryption?
Encryption is the mathematical process (or algorithm) of taking data and modifying it so it becomes unreadable. Decryption is the process of taking the unreadable encrypted data and running it through an algorithm that returns it to readable form.
Often encrypted data or encryption keys (passwords) will be called “code” but I don’t like to use that word because it’s vague, and has many other meanings in the computer world.
Ok, so now that we know what encryption is, (and here’s the fun part), here are some great movies that feature encryption, and may jog your memory a little more:
Sneakers (with Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Dan Akroyd and River Phoenix) is a movie featuring a universal encryption cracker – and the people who steal it. Obviously a box that can crack any “code” is mathematically impossible, but without it there would be no plot… and that would have been a shame cause
Sneakers was a terrific usual-suspects-esq movie.
Read more…
Security, encryption, fun, personal
encryption
Encryption is extremely important, but its overuse can also lead to problems.
Five to reasons to use Encryption:
1) You are dealing with important government, company, or personal data – especially on laptops, flash drives, or portable hard drives.
The news these days is riddled with stories of public servant or big company data theft, often due to laptop or hard drive loss. If big companies lose their data that often, little companies and individuals must do it all the time (more often, probably, because they don’t have encryption mandates) – they just don’t make the news. If you encrypt your data properly, data theft is virtually impossible. Note too that encryption doesn’t preclude data loss - you should back up your important data as well. Read more…
Security, encryption, privacy
communication, data security, email, encryption, files, internet, IT, privacy, protection, Reasons not to use Encryption., Reasons to use Encryption, Security, TrueCrypt, WebmailSafety
Yesterday’s news of Hushmail.com passing information to the US Government is alarming to most people who consider privacy important. We use encryption to protect our privacy against industrial spies, nosy intruders, and hackers; but most importantly, we use encryption to protect ourselves against governments, which are becoming more and more nosey.
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PGP, Security, email, government, personal, privacy
Internet Security, privacy
Ok. So this is my first post.
I doubt anyone will read it, but just for clarity’s sake, I am going to tell you a little bit about who I am, why I am blogging, who I am working with, etc.
Who I am!
Well, I’m a bit of a maverick, and a bit of a dabbler, I’ll say that first. I am always up to something and its usually something other people say “Whoah!” about, or maybe its “Whoah! Why on earth would you want to do that!?!” But I don’t care what they say. Read more…
personal
Gwebs, Introduction
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