Mozilla's new game uses emoji to teach you about encryption

Your favorite emoji can now have a secret meaning. 

Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox browser, has created a new game that uses emoji to teach people about encryption. 

The web-based tool, called Codemoji, allows you to send coded messages to friends using emoji. It uses emoji characters to create simple ciphers in order to illustrate the basics of encryption. 

Here's how it works: begin by writing a message you want your friends to decode, then pick an emoji that will serve as the key to decoding it. Codemoji then scrambles your message into a string of emoji characters, which you send to friends. 

Once you've shared the scrambled message, your friends will need to guess which emoji is your key in order to unscramble it into a legible message. (Mozilla suggests you give your friends a hint as to which character you used.) Once they select the correct emoji, the message will be decoded.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Mozilla notes Codemoji is meant to be an educational tool and isn't really meant to be a secure communications service. The company says its main goal is to teach people -- likely younger users -- about the importance of encryption and how it works.

In a statement, Mozilla's executive director Mark Surman said "encryption is being threatened around the world," citing government-proposed policies in Australia, the UK and France, along with the FBI's very public battle with Apple over its use of encryption. Mozilla was one of several tech companies that sided with Apple in its fight with the FBI earlier this year.

"Mozilla believes encryption is the most important tool we have for building a more safe, secure Internet," Mozilla writes on its blog. "And building a more secure Internet is critical to our users, our economy, and our national security."

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