Encryption

Encryption is a security technique that takes data, like text, and scrambles it into a secret message so it can’t be read by another party.

Decryption is what allows the recipient of the secret message to unscramble it back into a readable state.

Encryption uses various algorithms or ciphers to do the scrambling.

Related Terms

Plaintext

Specific to encryption, plaintext is inputted into an encryption algorithm, which then takes that plaintext message and produces a ciphertext. Using the process of decryption, ciphertext can be reversed to generate the original plaintext.

Algorithm

An Algorithm or algo is just a set of mathematical instructions or rules, programmed into computer software to produce some outcome or solve a specific problem or set of problems. In cryptography and data security, cryptographic algorithms have the job of turning readable data into a form of protected data – data that can’t be read easily by the human eye – and back to readable data.

Cryptography

Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication from outside observers. It’s taking information, concealing the real meaning of that information from everyone else, then sending that secret message to another party, and allowing that party to reveal the secret message using a special key

Plaintext

Information that’s unencrypted, waiting to be sent or transmitted to another party. Plaintext is the input given to a cryptographic algorithm, such as an encryption algorithm, which then encodes data into ciphertext. The ciphertext is the message transmitted to the receiving party.

ANDOS

In cryptography, ANDOS is an acronym for All Or Nothing Disclosure of Secrets. ANDOS is a two-party protocol introduced in 1986 by Brassard, Crepeau and Robert (BCR87). In cryptography, two party protocols have a goal of creating a way for two parties to share secret information without the receiving party being able to gain any […]