Why is Cryptography Important?
Cryptography allows people to carry over the confidence found in the physical world to the electronic world, thus allowing people to do business electronically without worries of deceit and deception. Every day hundreds of thousands of people interact electronically, whether it is through e-mail, e-commerce (business conducted over the Internet), ATM machines, or cellular phones. The perpetual increase of information transmitted electronically has lead to an increased reliance on cryptography. Cryptography on the Internet The Internet, comprised of millions of interconnected computers, allows nearly instantaneous communication and transfer of information, around the world. People use e-mail to correspond with one another. The World Wide Web is used for online business, data distribution, marketing, research, learning, and a myriad of other activities. Cryptography makes secure web sites and electronic safe transmissions possible. For a web site to be secure all of the data transmitted