End-to-end password encryption: What it is and why it's so important
Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2024 5:04 am
We write a lot about end-to-end encryption because it's one of the foundational blocks that all of our products are built on. Encryption may sound complicated, but you don't need to be a tech expert to understand how it can benefit you by protecting your personal information. Proton Pass helps you use en rd encryption to keep your cambodia phone number data passwords secure and private: in this article, we'll explain what end-to-end password encryption is and how it keeps you safe online.
What is end-to-end password encryption?
To understand password encryption, it's important to understand that encrypting information requires a public and a private key. These keys aren't physical items or digital items that you need to use. The private key is a randomly generated secret used by an encryption algorithm to decrypt your data. That's why it's important to keep the private key secret: the public key is derived from the private key, and allows anyone to encrypt data that will only be possible to decrypt by using the private key.
When you choose to encrypt a piece of information, you should use an already available and battle tested algorithm to ensure that your data stays safe and is properly encrypted. You don't need to build an encryption algorithm yourself; you can instead use a service with encryption built into its infrastructure.
Encryption has its own standards. Cryptographic standards have changed over the years as technological encryption capabilities have advanced, and the standard that most encryption services use today is the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)(new window). It was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)(new window)in 2001 and has been used by the US government since its inception.
How can I encrypt my passwords?
In the past, encryption and decryption had to be done manually and required technical expertise. Today, Proton Pass encrypts your passwords for you. There's nothing you need to do, because end-to-end encryption is built into the product. Your public and private keys are stored on your device, and they'll work in the background encrypting and decrypting your passwords for you.
What is end-to-end password encryption?
To understand password encryption, it's important to understand that encrypting information requires a public and a private key. These keys aren't physical items or digital items that you need to use. The private key is a randomly generated secret used by an encryption algorithm to decrypt your data. That's why it's important to keep the private key secret: the public key is derived from the private key, and allows anyone to encrypt data that will only be possible to decrypt by using the private key.
When you choose to encrypt a piece of information, you should use an already available and battle tested algorithm to ensure that your data stays safe and is properly encrypted. You don't need to build an encryption algorithm yourself; you can instead use a service with encryption built into its infrastructure.
Encryption has its own standards. Cryptographic standards have changed over the years as technological encryption capabilities have advanced, and the standard that most encryption services use today is the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)(new window). It was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)(new window)in 2001 and has been used by the US government since its inception.
How can I encrypt my passwords?
In the past, encryption and decryption had to be done manually and required technical expertise. Today, Proton Pass encrypts your passwords for you. There's nothing you need to do, because end-to-end encryption is built into the product. Your public and private keys are stored on your device, and they'll work in the background encrypting and decrypting your passwords for you.