The industry of online gambling has been thriving recently, mostly due to the development of powerful mobile apps. But there is one more detail that encourages more players to start gambling online and that is a much higher level of security in the digital realm.
Today, you can leave personal information in casino apps without worrying about identity theft or getting ripped off by an average hacker. How is it possible?
The answer is simple: Data encryption.
These two words are enough to describe how a typical online casino protects its visitors from malicious attacks, but the technology behind encryption is actually complex and it deserves a proper explanation. In this post, we will show you everything you need to know about data processing and digital encryption technology in online casinos. Let’s take a look!
What Is Encryption?
Although it sounds like a well-known concept, most people don’t really understand data encryption and its basic mechanisms. This is why we open the post with the very definition.
According to Digital Guardian, data encryption translates data into another form, or code, so that only people with access to a secret key (formally called a decryption key) or password can read it. For example, raw online casino data represent plaintext, but it becomes the so-called ciphertext upon encryption. To put it simply, casino encryption protects digital gamblers from cybersecurity threats and hackers who are trying to steal their credit card information.
Encryption is one of the most commonly used data protection systems on the Internet because of its ease of use and relative strength. Official stats prove our point since only 4% of breached data is actually protected by encryption. In other words, 96% of cybersecurity incidents strike data without encryption-based protection.
How Do Online Casinos Make Use of Encryption?
Encryption is by no means a new thing in virtual gambling and it is not only present on the newest casino Canada sites. On the contrary, every reputable platform – no matter how old – is based on encryption mechanisms for security purposes. It’s a matter of how casino collect data and how they are trying to protect sensitive user-related information.
But here’s where we are supposed to answer the main question: How do online casinos make use of encryption to strengthen cybersecurity?
Go back to the definition and you will see that an online casino for real money utilizes encryption to hide users’ personal information. It is the latest and most popular security protocol in which Internet browsers rely on encryption to mask real data related to gamblers’ banking accounts, cryptocurrency accounts, or credit cards. Cryptology also protects other gambling-related features, so you cannot lose a big win casino gift code, a bonus, a promo code, or any other sort of perk online casinos are offering.
Digital encryption does its thing in-between your electronic device and your favorite online casino platform. Every casino works on a dedicated server, while encryption protects and covers data transfers from your smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Now, security protocols in modern web browsing typically involve one of two types of encryption:
- Secure Socket Layer: SSL is a safety certificate that guarantees to protect data sent from one system to another. In this case, from your device to the online casino. What SSL certificates really do is hide data transfers by making them totally unreadable to the third party. This means that hackers and malicious software cannot decipher the information.
- Transport Layer Security: TSL is yet another way to create a safe online casino. Many people use the acronym interchangeably with SSL, but the truth is that TSL represents an upgraded and safer version of SSL. Today, almost every cybersecurity provider sells a TSL certificate even if you ask for a traditional SSL version. The reason is obvious – TSL is a more advanced version and it will soon be universally implemented among authoritative websites and online casinos.
How can you recognize an online gambling platform protected by one of these two protocols? Just take a look at the upper left corner of your browsers and check the URL of a given website.
In case the link starts with HTTP, it means that the website doesn’t have an SSL or TLS certificate. But if the URL begins with HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure), then you will know that the platform is safe and sound.
You might even want to check the details of the website owner by clicking the lock icon. If you choose to do that, you will see all the relevant information about the certificate such as the corporate name of the certificate holder.
Additional Means of Protection in Online Gambling
We told you how encryption functions in the world of online casinos, but cybersecurity does not end with encryption. There are a few more tricks up their sleeves, with the most important ones being as follows:
- License: One of the first things you should look for when visiting a brand new online casino is the license. Secure platforms obtain all permissions from regulatory bodies before taking off, which means they are completely safe and harmless.
- VPN: Virtual Private Networks are just another form of encryption. A VPN represents an encrypted connection from a device to a network, which helps ensure that sensitive data is safely transmitted.
- Antivirus: Special programs are being developed and used to protect online casinos (and all other websites) from malicious threats and cyberattacks. A reliable gambling app relies on the state-of-the-art antivirus program in order to prevent data breaches and security incidents.
The Bottom Line
Online gambling is a great replacement for traditional casinos, especially in the world struck by the COVID-19 pandemic. But is it safe enough?
We wrote this article to explain how data procession and digital encryption technology make online casinos a safe place for virtual gamblers. We did our best to simplify a complex topic, but make sure to leave a comment if you need additional explanations – we would be glad to answer your questions!
