Secure Socket Layers (SSL) is a technology used to encrypt and
decrypt information transmitted over the Internet. During a secure
Internet session, the browser and web server each encrypt data
before it is transmitted. Encrypting information prior to transmission
ensures data cannot be read while in route across the Internet (anyone
intercepting the data would "see" only a garbled mess without the appropriate
"key" with which to decipher). In addition to encrypting data for secure
transmissions, SSL technology also "verifies" the identity of the "sender."
You may have heard of terms such as 40-bit and 128-bit encryption.
These numbers actually refer to the binary length of the "key" that is
generated for use in every enrypted transaction. The standard level of
encryption supported by most modern browsers in North America is
128-bits, and that is the level of encryption used on this Web site.
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