PGP

An acronym for Pretty Good Privacy, a method of data-encryption that allows people to communicate on the internet without fear of their private messages being read by high-tech eavesdroppers. A simple message like
Hello Alice--This is Bob. Call me tonight at 9.
will be encrypted using the recipient's public key. When this is done, the message turns into gibberish like
hUe&6kalO_e5qlAre4#1jkaU19J@dla=mCxk$q4yXv3i*d
and is sent to the recipient, who is able to decrypt the message using a private key only known to her or him.

PGP and methods like it (RSA, DES, etc.) are beginning to be used for transmitting data which should not be stolen, impersonated, or tampered with. A good example is the use of transmitting credit card information online. While this technique is still in its infancy on the World Wide Web, it is rapidly becoming an important issue of online commerce.

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