FPF Celebrates Safer Internet Day with Newly Released Encryption Infographic
Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) is thrilled to celebrate Safer Internet Day 2025 with the release of a new infographic, “Encryption Keeps Young People Safe.” Safer Internet Day is an annual event and part of a larger global mission to create a safer online environment, especially for young people. FPF’s new infographic explains how encryption technology plays a crucial role in ensuring data privacy and online safety for a new generation of teens and kids. FPF will host leading experts at a virtual event on Feb. 11 at 10 am ET to discuss the state of encryption technology and policy.
Data encryption is central to online security, privacy, and safety, and of particular importance for particularly vulnerable groups, such as young people. Gen Z and Gen Alpha have lived their entire lives in the age of the commercial internet, social media, electronic records, and internet-connected devices. They have grown up in a world where everything from insulin pumps to cars are internet-connected. Encryption is the best protection to ensure that personal communications, transactions and devices are safe and secure. The 2025 infographic illustrates encryption’s role in protecting data in places young people frequent, such as sports parks, shopping centers, and health clinics.
Encryption is often used to secure or authenticate sensitive documents. Encryption applies a mathematical formula, which obfuscates plaintext information and transforms the plaintext into unreadable ciphertext. Each use of encryption generates a long number that is the mathematical solution to the formula and can unscramble the protected sensitive information. If a private key is not kept secret, anyone with the key can access the private data or impersonate the authenticated person or organization.
This infographic is the latest in FPF’s longstanding work on encryption, which includes a 2020 infographic explaining how encryption more broadly protects enterprises, individuals, and governments—and what may happen when data and devices fail to use strong encryption and are compromised by bad actors. The infographic series advances FPF’s mission of promoting data privacy for every user by showcasing the vital role encryption plays in ensuring online safety, and the detrimental effects of an online world without its protections.
FPF will host a virtual event at 10 am ET today, featuring a Keynote address from Patricia Kosseim, Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner. There will also be a panel of experts to dive into how encryption protects young people not just online, but in the physical world as well, by preventing malicious actors from gaining access to the devices and spaces they rely on for health, education, convenience, and more. Register now to join the event!
If you’re interested in learning more about encryption or other issues driving the future of privacy, sign up for our monthly briefing, check out one of our upcoming events, or follow us on X, LinkedIn, or Instagram.