Tomson-Moylan, (Russian Overseas Flagship 2019-2020), a Computer Science Capstone student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, presents his mid-program research project at Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan. He reports on the use and relevance of applied cryptography in times of increasing public dependence on internet usage. He discusses the importance of network traffic and cyber security in the contemporary world, how cyber security and cryptography differ from one network to another, typical hacker strategies, and defenses that can be employed against them.