How does encryption work?

Everything that travels through cyberspace during your online session, from your password to your instructions and commands, becomes a string of unrecognisable numbers before it is transmitted via the Internet. Both belairdirect’s computers and the browser you use to surf the Web understand the mathematical formulas, called algorithms, that turn your online session into numeric code, and back again to meaningful information.

These algorithms serve as locks on the vaults of your account information. And while belairdirect and your computer can easily translate this code back to a meaningful language, this process would be a daunting, almost impossible task for unauthorised intruders. That’s because there are billions of possible keys potentially solving each formula — but only one that will work. Each time you begin an online session, your computer and belairdirect’s systems agree on a random number to serve as the key for the rest of the conversation. What the random number could be depends largely on the strength of encryption your browser utilises.