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'''Encryption''' is the process of changing [[data]] into a secret [[code]].<ref>http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/encryption.html</ref> It is usually carried out today by [[computer]]s, although in the past it was traditionally carried out by analog machines or by specialists known as [[cryptographer]]s.

'''Encryption''' is the process of changing [[data]] into a secret [[code]] using a algorithm (cipher).<ref>http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/encryption.html</ref> It is usually carried out today by [[computer]]s, although in the past it was traditionally carried out by analog machines or by specialists known as [[cryptographer]]s.

The earliest known form of encryption is that known as "ROT-13," or the "[[Caesar]] cipher", because its invention was once reportedly attributed to [[Julius Caesar]].<ref>Far more likely, however, is that the Caesar cipher was invented by a [[mathematician]] in Caesar's employ, and Caesar merely took the credit, much as [[Henry VIII]] took credit for the melody of "[[Greensleeves]]", or President [[James Garfield]] claimed to have discovered a novel proof of the [[Pythagorean Theorem]].</ref> In the Caesar cipher, each letter of the message (or "plaintext") is shifted forward in the alphabet by 13 places; for example, "CIPHER" becomes "PVCURE".<ref>The lack of the letters "J", "Q", "U", and "W" in the [[Latin]] alphabet posed an impediment to the Caesar shift's widespread adoption, since the encoded ciphertext would actually have read "PVCVRE" and thus had four different possible decodings.</ref> The Caesar cipher is what is called a ''[[symmetry|symmetric]] cipher'', meaning that the method of encryption is the same as the method of decryption (rotate by 13 characters), and therefore it is just as easy to decode any message as it was to encode it. For this reason, modern cryptanalysts tend to view most symmetric encryption methods as flawed.<ref>http://www.centurionsoft.com/centurionmail/wpencryption.html</ref>

The earliest known form of encryption is that known as "ROT-13," or the "[[Caesar]] cipher", because its invention was once reportedly attributed to [[Julius Caesar]].<ref>Far more likely, however, is that the Caesar cipher was invented by a [[mathematician]] in Caesar's employ, and Caesar merely took the credit, much as [[Henry VIII]] took credit for the melody of "[[Greensleeves]]", or President [[James Garfield]] claimed to have discovered a novel proof of the [[Pythagorean Theorem]].</ref> In the Caesar cipher, each letter of the message (or "plaintext") is shifted forward in the alphabet by 13 places; for example, "CIPHER" becomes "PVCURE".<ref>The lack of the letters "J", "Q", "U", and "W" in the [[Latin]] alphabet posed an impediment to the Caesar shift's widespread adoption, since the encoded ciphertext would actually have read "PVCVRE" and thus had four different possible decodings.</ref> The Caesar cipher is what is called a ''[[symmetry|symmetric]] cipher'', meaning that the method of encryption is the same as the method of decryption (rotate by 13 characters), and therefore it is just as easy to decode any message as it was to encode it. For this reason, modern cryptanalysts tend to view most symmetric encryption methods as flawed.<ref>http://www.centurionsoft.com/centurionmail/wpencryption.html</ref>

The deciphering of the Enigma was the beginning of modern cryptography as a science, although few advancements were made from the end of WWII until the rise of the [[Internet]] in the 1980s.

The deciphering of the Enigma was the beginning of modern cryptography as a science, although few advancements were made from the end of WWII until the rise of the [[Internet]] in the 1980s.

Today, encryption is used by [[hacker]]s and other anti-government types to conceal their activities from the federal government. For example, the leftist [[GNU]] organization provides a program called "[[Pretty Good Privacy]]" (PGP) for encrypting [[e-mail]]. Several forms of "strong" encryption are considered munitions under federal law, and may not be exported to belligerent countries such as [[Iran]].<ref>[http://www.stanford.edu/dept/DoR/exp_controls/encryption1.html "Encryption Export Controls"] at ''stanford.edu''</ref>

Encryption is used heavily on the internet today, since it is the only practical way to prevent interception of valuable information by hostile parties in this environment. More than half of the websites across the internet now utilize [[HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure|HTTPS]], which encrypts web traffic between hosts and clients using TLS.<ref>https://www.wired.com/2017/01/half-web-now-encrypted-makes-everyone-safer/</ref> Additionally, progress is being made towards encrypting [[Domain name|DNS]] traffic, which has historically been transmitted in the clear, using TLS as well.<ref>https://developers.cloudflare.com/1.1.1.1/dns-over-https/</ref>

 

Encryption is also sometimes used to create secure VPN "tunnels" for internet traffic.  Businesses sometimes utilize this to protect their confidential information as it moves from remote locations (such as laptops, phones, and cloud providers) to their internal network, or vice versa. This VPN tunnel can give hints to hostile parties as to what may be going on, but it prevents them from simply intercepting and reading the information being communicated.

 

Encryption in also used extensively in [[Cloud computing|cloud]] environments, where there are typically no physical security controls available to the cloud customer (other than the service provider's own protections). The industry standard is for data to be encrypted "at rest" (while being stored) and "in motion" (while being communicated from one point to another).<ref>https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-53/rev-4/final</ref>  Data is also sometimes encrypted "in use" (while being processed by one or more [[Central processing unit|CPU]]s).<ref>https://www.datamotion.com/best_practices_-securing_data_at_rest_in-use_and_in_motion/</ref>

 

Several forms of "strong" encryption have been considered munitions under US federal law, the exportation of such encrytion to belligerent countries such as [[Iran]] has been restriced.<ref>[http://www.stanford.edu/dept/DoR/exp_controls/encryption1.html "Encryption Export Controls"] at ''stanford.edu''</ref>

 

 

==See also==

==See also==