Although ciphers long have been a staple of spy thrillers and mysteries, data encryption now has gained a real -- and critical -- foothold in the business world.

"Encryption and authentication are playing a very important role, in particular with most businesses moving online and adding business processes online," said Ed Kim, product line manager for PKI and device authentication in VeriSign's security services business unit.

Which Standards Lead?

As enterprises and government agencies increase their dependence on intranets, extranets and the Internet, they are relying mainly on two standards to protect their data: Triple Data Encryption Standard (DES) and the more recently developed and approved Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Without such encryption, data packets can be easily captured and viewed by unauthorized users.

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