Encryption is the friend of anyone who wants to keep their private information private, but it’s used surprisingly little.
In the simplest possible terms, encryption means that anyone without the correct permissions, or “key”, who tries to view your data will see only gibberish that is impossible to untangle. That sounds like it should be a basic standard of the internet, but in fact many sites don’t use it. It’s actually quite easy, in most cases, to tell if a site is sending unencrypted data to its servers. If the URL says HTTPS, you’re all good. The S stands for secure, and means that the communication between the web page and the server is encrypted while it travels. The web is, unfortunately, still transitioning to HTTPS. Almost all major websites have done so, but the rest of the interent is spotty at best. If you have a website and you’re not using HTTPS, get on it!
This infographic is mostly about tools that can be used to encrypt the files on your computer. Whether that’s something you need is up to you to decide, but the main place that most people need encyrption is when a device is talking to the cloud.
If you’ve got a WordPress blog, perhaps you’d like to check out our How to Improve WordPress Security infographic.