Melanie Hogsbath has started a successful pet lodging, grooming, care and entertainment, e.g., dog walking, business, Hogsbath's PetPoria. Many of Melanie's transactions are executed by credit card at her website. A customer of Melanie's recently expressed concerns regarding entering credit card information into Melanie's website. Melanie has called you to ask about the possibility of providing her with a more secure credit card processing system. More specifically, she has recently read an article about "encryption" and asks your opinion of its value to her business.

Please write Ms. Hogsbath a memo that discusses encryption - what it is and how it may be useful to her business. Explain what system risks it may help her address.

Briefly describe symmetric versus asymmetric encryption and the implications to Melanie for implementing either

type of encryption for credit card information at her website.

To: Ms. Hogsbath From: Accountant Re: The role and importance of "encryption" in business