Uploaded October 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
As our lives have moved online we now perform many sensitive or personal transactions over the internet. When we send email, we want to ensure that it not read or modified during transmission. When we purchase goods and services, we want to ensure that our payment information does not fall into the wrong hands. And even when we search the web, we may want to ensure that our explorations remain private and are not visible to our internet service provider. Accomplishing these tasks requires a complex ecosystem combining beautiful mathematical algorithms and systems to establish trust and control who can access what internet resources. Clearly we’re still getting it right—few months go by without news of another hack or security vulnerability. But we’re making progress.
Credits: Talking: Geoffrey Challen (Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo). Producing: Greg Bunyea (Undergraduate, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo).
Part of the internet-class.org online internet course. A blue Systems Research Group (https://blue.cse.buffalo.edu) production.
As our lives have moved online we now perform many sensitive or personal transactions over the internet. When we send email, we want to ensure that it not read or modified during transmission. When we purchase goods and services, we want to ensure that our payment information does not fall into the wrong hands. And even when we search the web, we may want to ensure that our explorations remain private and are not visible to our internet service provider. Accomplishing these tasks requires a complex ecosystem combining beautiful mathematical algorithms and systems to establish trust and control who can access what internet resources. Clearly we’re still getting it right—few months go by without news of another hack or security vulnerability. But we’re making progress.
Credits: Talking: Geoffrey Challen (Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo). Producing: Greg Bunyea (Undergraduate, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo).
Part of the internet-class.org online internet course. A blue Systems Research Group (https://blue.cse.buffalo.edu) production.
