Are you struggling to grasp the basics of encryption? Let Mozilla break it down for you, with the help of something a little easier to understand: emoji.
The browser maker on Tuesday launched a Web-based educational tool called Codemoji, which introduces everyday Internet users to ciphers, aka the "building blocks of encryption."
Early ciphers, the site explains, shifted letters of the alphabet by set amounts (H would become T, for instance). Codemoji, meanwhile, replaces the letters you type with emoji.
The site lets you write a message, encode it using emoji, and then send it to a friend. You shouldn't use Codemoji for secure communications, however. "Thankfully, modern encryption tools are way stronger than emojis," Mozilla wrote in a blog post.
To try it out for yourself, head here. Mozilla built Codemoji in partnership with the Italian design and creative agency TODO with the goal of educating Internet users about the importance of encryption, which has been a hot topic as of late.
"When more people understand how encryption works and why it's important to them, more people can stand up for encryption when it matters most," Mozilla's Executive Director Mark Surman said in a statement. "Currently, encryption is being threatened around the world. From France to Australia to the UK, governments are proposing policies that would harm user security by weakening encryption. And in the US, the FBI recently asked Apple to undermine the security of its own products."
Surman was, of course, referring to Apple's scuffle with the FBI earlier this year over access to the iPhone 5c owned by one of the San Bernardino shooters. In that case, the government was able to crack the iPhone without assistance from Apple, reportedly by hiring hackers to do the job.
By: Angela Moscaritolo (PC Magazine).
Photo: ZDNet.
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