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What is data security?
Data security is basically protecting the data you use with your computer. This can be accomplished through access control methods like locked computer rooms, security guards, and safes. It can also be through encryption, the scrambling of the data so no one will be able to figure out what the data really is.
As you know from the television and newspapers. as networks proliferate so do
thieves and the need for data security increases. The world in the past has
largely depended on physical security such as safes and locks. Computers are
rapidly eroding the possibility of physical security (wherever a modem is
connected to a phone line). Laws will be passed, but in the final result,
honesty depends on good security. All the ministrations of legislators and
bureaucrats will have little positive effect on security. Human nature will win
out. The easier it is to get, the more likely it is to be stolen. Encryption
provides part of the answer to the need for increased security. It will be
especially useful in systems that are open to all users but which have some
confidential data. Instead of complex levels of user verification through
passwords, everyone can get the file but only the people with the key can decode
the information. Encryption in its present state is cumbersome and time
consuming, but faster computers and better programs can ease this problem. This
is where our products come to the rescue.
Encryption is a fascinating exercise. One of our basic encryption levels
implements a version of the Vernam machine developed at Bell labs in the 1920's.
The original machine used Baudot code on a teletype and performed an exclusive
or (XOR) on each character of the message and the key to produce the encrypted
character. The message was decoded by the same machine in the same manner. The
method is considered unbreakable if two conditions are met. First, the key is
longer than the message and second, the key is only used once, sometimes called
a one time pad. Typically the files you will be encrypting are much longer than
the key.
NOTE: If there is any question about the randomness of the encrypted file, you can encrypt the same file multiple times using different keys. The true randomness of the key should not matter since the use of more than one key will make decoding the file very difficult, if not impossible. This process could be repeated until the paranoia of the person was satisfied.