A secure connection usually refers to a connection between your computer and a secure Web site. A secure connection is based on a code system called public key encryption.

When your computer exchanges secure Web pages with another computer through the Internet, each computer generates a set of codes to encrypt information. From these codes, each computer creates two "keys," one private and one public. Your computer keeps the private key secret, but sends out the public key to the other computer, which uses that key to encode subsequent messages so that only your computer can read them. The public key cannot, however, be used to decode the message; the decoding can only be done using the private key.

With secure e-mail, the process is the same, except that the public and private keys are generated beforehand when the correspondents obtain their certificates. The correspondents then exchange public keys so that they can send secure mail to each other.

These keys allow you and the other computer to lock and unlock information so that only the holder of the private key can read messages encrypted by the public key. Since only you and the other computer have a copy of your respective private keys, there is no way for anybody else to intercept and decode your messages.

Still curious? Find out about how secure connections work in more detail.

Related issues about security and online shopping:

How does a secure link work?
How hard is it for somebody else to decode the encryption protecting my personal information?
How do I view security information for a page?
How do I view my browser's current security settings?

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