A Brief Explanation of Encryption

SSA is taking all reasonable and appropriate measures, including encryption, to ensure that your personal information is disclosed only to you. However, the Internet is an open system and there is no absolute guarantee that the personal information you have entered or requested will not be intercepted by others and decrypted. Although this possibility is remote, it does exist.

Encryption means that all information relating to you and your account is scrambled and locked with a mathematical key during the electronic transfer.   Most browsers have an icon such as a key   or a lock   to represent an encrypted mode or session.   A broken key  , open lock  , or no lock or key indicates that the session or mode is not encrypted.

There are two standard levels of encryption used on most Web pages. The difference between these two types of encryption is one of capability.

• 128-bit encryption, means there are 2 ¹²⁸ key combinations
• 256-bit encryption, means there are 2 ²⁵⁶ key combinations

SSA uses 256-bit encryption to provide the highest level of security.