Recently, the college entrance examination volunteer reporting system was exposed to the use of Base64 encryption, which has alarmed many parents.When I flashed this news, my first reaction was "What?That's it? "To be honest, we ordinary people may not know much about technology, but when we hear the word" encryption ", we feel that it must be a tall thing.The result? Base64, to put it bluntly, is wearing a transparent raincoat on the data - it looks like encryption, but in fact, anyone can see through it at a glance.
Let's break it up.Base64 encoding, which essentially converts binary data into a textual form of 64 visible characters.For example, if you enter "123456", the Base64 encoding will become "MTIzNDU2".At first glance, a string of garbled codes is scary, but anyone who knows a little bit of programming, even casually searching the Internet, can decode it in seconds.It's like if you take a combination lock, but the key is inserted directly into the lock hole, and a note is posted saying, "Turn it and you can open it."The college entrance examination voluntary reporting system, which is the lifeblood of the child's future, personal information, voluntary choices, password data, if you really use this to "protect", what is the difference from writing the information on the public blackboard?
The problem behind this is much more serious than the technology itself.First of all, it is not Base64 itself that parents panic, but the collapse of trust in the security of the system.Think about it, you have worked hard for a few days to volunteer and fill in the submission, and it turns out that this kind of kindergarten-level "encryption" is used for data transmission. In case of being intercepted by an intermediary, or the system being dragged to the warehouse, your privacy will not be completely naked?Not to mention that there have been cases of data being tampered with in some places.What is the technical problem, is the responsibility problem.
Of course, let's not kill all the systems with one stick.It may just be that a certain module or historical legacy is amplified, but since it has been exposed, the relevant institutions must hurry to make up for the death of the sheep.Real encryption, such as HTTPS transmission, digest algorithms with signatures, and even national cipher algorithms, is called reliable.Don't panic, parents can keep an eye out: check if the URL starts with https, don't operate on the public network, and passwords are complicated.At the same time, this reminds everyone that in the digital age, security is not a slogan, it must be invested in real gold and silver.It is hoped that this storm will promote the upgrading of the system, and do not let the child's future run naked in the "transparent raincoat".