There are plenty of different forms of encryption to learn, each with its own purpose. To first understand the many forms of encryption one must understand the basis of what constitutes as an encryption. When information is stored as data and read from a source, the data is then referred to as ‘plain-text’. Alternatively, when data is received, read, then stored as information that is separate from the source; this is referred to as ‘cipher-text’.
An encryption can be understood as the transition between these two mediums. When looked at from an analytical perspective, to achieve a ciphertext, an encryption must be performed, just as a decryption is required for achieving a plaintext from a ciphertext. This allows different methods to be put in place when transitioning between the two mediums.
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I really liked your article on triple booting the mac-book pro, I also find it interesting that a computer science under-graduate who says their studying in the USA would choose to use a GMX mailing host (Global Mail eXchange) as there located in Germany. (yes I used whois!)
The article on encryption was an interesting addition as it basically informs people of the differences between cipher-text & plain-text but does not actually cover anything specific such as what encryption would you recommend?
Encryption can be pretty worthless as it has to be noted as under the PACE Act and the FOI Act you must surrender your encryption keys upon request to a federal agency, home-land security or other unless you want to end up being charged with obstruction of Justice. I believe they call it, “Perverting the Course of Justice!”
However it’s worthwhile to note that did not prevent Wikileaks from really annoying a lot of high profile bureaucrats in Washington by refusing to hand over theres whilst distributing the file insurance.iso all over the peer to peer networks and I myself know that sometimes these agencies do tend to get way ahead of themselves and try to read your data without a warrant, which is in direct violation of the Data Protection Act.. There’s a lot of laws regarding these issues, if you love hacking & cryptography per-say I humbly suggest you become familiar with them in depth.
But these are things you’ll learn about in due course as the more you learn the more you know. Along with other euphemisms like BCR – Binding Corporate Rules and other such high-profile Buzz words like SEO, which can leave you scratching your head (or pulling your hair out!).