Encryption is a term in cryptography, by which data or words are encoded to become unreadable to anyone who does not know the key to the cipher. A cipher is essentially the manual to figuring out the code, with the key being a specific pattern. The most common use of encryption today is in password storage on websites. Because passwords are generally supposed to be something that only the person who created it knows, websites will take the raw passwords and encrypt them using a cipher that only the software knows in order to store and validate. This means that the website owner will not have direct access to the passwords that users have entered. This is to protect both the website users and the owners.http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-encryption.htm

Another frequent use of encryption is in confidential military documents and communication. Because the internet is mostly susceptible to interception from outside sources through network transmission, important confidential documents are generally encrypted using a key that only military software can unlock. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/07/04/government_military_scramble_for_encryption/

One lesser known form of encryption is Digital Rights Management, also referred to as DRM. DRM is an access control technology that will allow software developers and publishers to encrypt content on a disk or file format so that it cannot be recopied for any purpose. This can also allow companies to require users to download their special software. An example of this is that songs purchased through iTunes are only available for play on Apple approved devices that understand the code.

If you think about all of the data that you input into websites that you want confidential, you can imagine how often encryption is used. Health information, financial information, social security numbers, secret codes - each time you enter this private data into the computer you should be using a website that utilizes encryption to keep your content safe.http://computer.howstuffworks.com/encryption.htm