How the Internet Works, Eighth Edition

Chapter 50. Cryptography, Privacy, and Digital Certificates

The Internet is a notoriously insecure network. Anything you send across it can be easily snooped upon. This is of particular concern when highly confidential information, such as corporate data and credit card numbers, is transmitted across the Internet. Unless there is some way to protect that type of information, the Internet will never be a secure place to do business or send private, personal correspondence.

Another related concern is that it can be difficult to know whether the person sending the information across the Internet, such as credit card information, is really ...