What is encryption?
Encryption occurs for all information going to and from both you and our Online Banking system. Simply stated, encryption creates “mumbo jumbo.” It scrambles otherwise meaningful text and numbers into numerical nonsense before transmission across the Internet. This process uses complex formulas to create a key that’s used to translate the mumbo jumbo back to meaningful data. There are billions of potential keys, and a different one is used for each Online Banking session. When you connect your computer to Online Banking, the system establishes which key will be used.
Encryption is a method of protecting data by converting it to a format that is unreadable by anyone except those with a special key. Typically, data encryption keys are in the form of passwords or passphrases, but can also take the form of fingerprint readers, smartcards, or a combination of these items. If a person does not have the key to decrypt the data, the data remains inaccessible. Encryption and keys work very much like decoder rings, except encryption methods for computers are typically much more complex. Entering the correct key (the decoder ring) allows the computer to decipher the files and present it to the user.
Encryption is the scrambling of information for transmission back and forth between two points. A key is required to decode the information. When you request information about your accounts, the request is sent encrypted to Metropolitan. We then decode your request for information and send it back to you in an encrypted format. When you receive it, your information is decoded so that you can read it. Because your account information is being transmitted between you and Metropolitan, encryption protects your account information so it can’t be intercepted and read by a third party.
Encryption requires a method and a key. The encryption method is the specific mathematical process used to transform a message into a stream of ones and zeros. The key is a string of bits used in the method. Applying different keys to the same plaintext message results in different ciphertexts. With 128-bit encryption, the odds are 2128 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 to decipher a transmitted message: virtually impossible.
