Private Key

  

Categories: Tech

When you were a kid, you probably used simple codes to send messages. 1=A, 2=B, and so on. (10/5/14/14/25 19/13/5/12/12/19 12/9/11/5 1 2/21/20/20)

Codes get more complicated when you grow up. A private key comes into play with some of these grown-up, more complicated situations. It makes up part of an encryption process, keeping communications and data safe.

A private key is paired with a public key. Both represent long, random numbers. Everyone in a group can know the public key. But the private key is unique to the individual. The combination of the private and public keys provides a much safer access system than, say, using your birth date as a password, or going with “1...2...3...4...5.”

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Finance: What are Phishing Scams?8 Views

00:00

Finance a la shmoop what are phishing scams? all right you know when you're out [Woman on fishing boat with Dad]

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on the lake with dad just the two of you trying to haul in some trout when one of

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the fish pulls a fast one on you and hangs one of these things on your line [Fishing line with boot attached]

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yeah total scam we're telling you you cannot trust anything that breathes

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through the side of its face anymore these days really okay so that's a not

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quite a phishing scam although the general idea is similar it's someone

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trying to make you believe something that isn't exactly true with a phishing

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scam the venue switches from the great outdoors to cyberspace never gotten an [A wooden hut appears]

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email from a Nigerian prince who's temporarily down on his luck and if

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you'll just wire him three hundred bucks in cash immediately well immeasurable

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riches await you it sounds like a little good to be true there right yeah and it [Man gives thumbs up in room]

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is well usually that Nigerian prince is an overweight balding guy named Jerry

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living in his mom's basement in a suburb just outside of Cleveland he'd love

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nothing more than to hook a sucker you and take that 300 bucks [Jerry on his computer]

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off your hands but many times the scam is much more intricate than that often

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its identity thieves who are trying to con you into releasing private

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information such as your social security number or credit card information mm-hmm

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that's out there well they might try to convince you that

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their Amazon support or your bank or your long-lost uncle Yusuf who just [Person flicking through e-mails]

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needs a few personal details before he can FedEx you your large inheritance

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don't fall for any of it anytime you're randomly asked to divulge any sensitive

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information or pop a wad of cash in an envelope stop for a second and ask

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yourself whatever you might be well a fish and then ask yourself whether you'd [Cash burning]

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like all your hard-earned money to be sauteed or flame-broiled good stuff...

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)