Additional Resources Schneier, B. (2012), How Changing Technology Affects Security. IEEE Security & Privacy. March/April 2012. https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2012/03/how_changing_technol.html Kessler, G. (2011). An overview of cryptography. Retrieved from http://www.garykessler.net/library/crypto.html There's a program out there called Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), that provides personal encryption capabilities essentially equal to those available to almost all governments and capable of ensuring information privacy against almost if not absolutely all attacks.  It has a long and interestingly checkered history, including having been at one time an illegal munition of war.  Originating as freeware, it now exists in both free and commercial incarnations. You'll also want to look at the discussion and links to some versions of the program on Phil Zimmermann's website (http://philzimmermann.com/EN/findpgp/) and at the GNU Privacy Guard website (http://www.gnupg.org/), which provides a free implementation on the Open Source model.