Sams Teach Yourself TCP/IP in 24 Hours, Fourth Edition

Encryption

It is easy to intercept and read an unprotected packet of data traveling over a public network. In some cases, that data might contain user or password information. In other cases, the data might contain other sensitive information you don’t want anyone else to see, such as credit card numbers or company secrets. The fact is that even if the data isn’t particularly secret, many users are justifiably uncomfortable with the prospect of eavesdroppers listening in on their electronic communication.

The security methods discussed later in this hour are designed to make the network more secret. Many of these methods use a concept known as encryption. Encryption is the process of systematically altering data to make it unreadable to unauthorized ...