The process of protecting information by transforming it into an unreadable format. The information is encrypted using a Key, which makes the data unreadable, and is then decrypted later when the information needs to be used again. See also Public Key Cryptography and Private Key Cryptography.

Cryptography is a collection of mathematical techniques for protecting information. Information is made unintelligableby the use of a key and is later made readable by the use ofthe same, or another, key. See also Encryption. See our primer document for more background on cryptography and PKI. 2. Glossary D - F

The process of securing private information that is passed through public networks by mathematically scrambling (encrypting) it in a way that makes it unreadable to anyone except the person or persons holding the mathematical "key" that can unscramble (decrypt) it. The two most common types of cryptography are "same-key" and "public-key." In same-key cryptography, a message is encrypted and decrypted using the same key, which is passed along from one party to another in a separate transmission. A more secure method is public-key cryptography which uses a pair of different keys (one public, one private) that have a particular relationship to one another, such that any message encrypted with one key can only be decrypted with the other key and viceversa.

A communications crime-prevention technology that uses methods of data encryption and decryption to scramble codes sent over communications channels.

Cryptography is the science of transforming data into an unintelligible format (encryption) which can later be restored to its original, readable form (decryption).

The science of using secrets to implement security mechanisms. Cryptanalysis is the art of analysing cryptographic mechanisms. The two together are cryptology. See Distributed Security: Secrets and Cryptology .

The process of protecting information by transforming it into an unreadable format. The information is encrypted using a "key" that makes the data unreadable. It is later decrypted, making the information readable again.

The process of scrambling and unscrambling information so that only the intended parties can read it. For example, when you send your payment data over the Internet for a purchase, cryptography can prevent everyone but the intended merchant from reading your Visa account number and card expiration date.

is concerned with the deciphering or decoding (reading) of confidential communications. The term includes enciphering or encoding (writing) plaintext as well.

The principles, means, and methods for rendering plain information unintelligible and for restoring such information to intelligible form.

the art of hiding the content of information

The science of keeping information secure.

The science of information security. Modern cryptography is typically concerned with the processes of scrambling ordinary text (known as plain text or clear text) into encrypted text at the sender's end of a connection, and decrypting the encrypted text back into clear text at the receiver's end. Because its security is independent of the channels through which the text passes, cryptography is the only way of protecting communications over channels that are not under the user's control. The goals of cryptography are confidentiality, integrity, nonrepudiation, and authentication. The encrypted information cannot be understood by anyone for whom it is not intended, or altered in storage or transmission without the alteration being detected. The sender cannot later deny the creation or transmission of the information, and the sender and receiver can confirm each other's identity and the information's origin and destination.

The science of encoding something.

The art of protecting information by transforming it (encrypting) into an unreadable format. See encryption.

The use of codes to convert data into a format that can be read only by authorized individuals.

The science of encrypting a message, or the science of concealing the meaning of a message. Sometimes the term is used more generally to mean the science of anything connected with ciphers, and is an alternative to the term cryptology.

The art of science concerning the principles, means, and methods for rendering plain text unintelligible and for converting encrypted messages into intelligible form.

The study of ciphers (secret writings).

The science of transforming readable text into cipher text and back again.

This is the study of decryption and encryption.

the process of communicating in or deciphering secret, encoded information

Cryptography is the encoding and decoding of messages using mathematical functions. There are four components involved in the process: (1) plaintext; the message to be encrypted (2) ciphertext; the encrypted message: (3) encryption algorithm or formula used to encrypt the message; (4) key; secret key used to encrypt and decrypt the ciphertext.

The creation, manipulation and deciphering of coded messages.

The process by protecting messages or information by making it unreadable without a Key.

the science of analyzing and deciphering codes and ciphers and cryptograms

act of writing in code or cipher

A process related to scrambling plaintext (ordinary text, or clear text) into ciphertext (a process called encryption), then back again (known as decryption). The aim here is to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access.

The science of using mathematics to make information secure. See also: encryption.

The act of writing and deciphering secret code resulting in secure messages.

Cryptography is the art and science of protecting information from unauthorized access. Symmetric cryptography: Only one key is a shared secret between the two communicating parties. The same key is used for encryption and decryption. Asymmetric cryptography: Also known as public key cryptography; different keys are used for encryption and decryption. A party has two keys – a public key and a private key. The two keys are mathematically related, but depending on the key length it can be virtually impossible to derive the private key from the public key.

The study and practice of encoding data so that it can only be decoded by specific users. Systems of encoding and decoding are called ciphers.

The conversion of data into a secret code for secure transmission over a public network. The original text, or plaintext, is converted into a coded equivalent called ciphertext via an encryption algorithm. The ciphertext is decoded (decrypted) at the receiving end and turned back into plaintext.

In today's computer-centric world, cryptography is most often associated with scrambling plain text (ordinary text, sometimes referred to as clear text) into cipher text (a process called encryption), then back again (known as decryption). Individuals who practice this field are known as cryptographers.

The art of secret writing; the translation of information from a public code to a secret one and back again for the purpose of limiting access to it to a select few.

Cryptography is a method that provides security to information by converting it to a form unintelligible to an unauthorized interceptor (encryption) and by reconverting information to its original form for authorized recipients (decryption).

The process of converting information into a secret code, called cipher text, by an encryption algorithm. Cryptographic services can provide confidentiality, integrity, authentication and nonrepudiation.

protecting information or hiding its meaning by converting it into a secret code before sending it out over a public network

Cryptography is the art of keeping messages secret by using different methods. It normally deals with all aspects of secure messaging, authentication, digital signatures, and electronic money. Cryptanalysis is the art of breaking these methods. Cryptology is the study of cryptography and cryptanalysis.

The mathematical science that deals with transforming data to render its meaning unintelligible, prevent its undetected alteration, or prevent its unauthorized use. If the transformation is reversible, cryptography also deals with restoring encrypted data to intelligible form.

Science of encryption and related topics

The field of study in which information is protected by converting it with algorithms. See encryption.

Coding for privacy.

Cryptography garbles a message in such a way that anyone who intercepts the message cannot understand it.

(cryp tog ra phy) - The part of cryptology that deals with making codes or cipher systems so that others cannot read what is in the secret message.

analysis of encoding techniques used to secure information from specific threats. Cryptography can ensure confidentiality and facilitate authentication and data integrity.

Cryptography is the study and practice of scrambling information in a manner that is difficult to unscramble, and making scrambled information intelligible. It is used as the basis of much computer security, in that it can be used to keep information confidential, and also preserve the integrity if data, particularly when being stored or being transmitted.

The techniques of the principles, means and methods for rendering plaintext unintelligible and for converting encrypted messages into intelligible form. Cryptography can be used to facilitate the confidentiality of electronic messages and to create digital signatures

The science of encoding or decoding information.

Branch of the science that studies the techniques by which two entities can communicate through an insecure channel in a secure manner.

Greek for "hidden writing." It is the art and science of transforming information into a secure form

The art and science of encoding and decoding messages using mathematical algorithms that utilize a secret key. The concept has broadened to include managing messages that have some combination of: privacy (by being unreadable to anyone but the sender and receiver); integrity (not modified while en route), and non-repudiation (digitally signed in such a way that the originator cannot plausibly claim he or she did not originate it).

the process or skill of communicating in or deciphering secret writings or ciphers.

The art and science of information security. It provides four basic information security functions: confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and nonrepudiation. See also confidentiality; integrity; authentication; nonrepudiation.

The science and art of making codes and ciphers.

the practice of authentication, encryption, and decryption of information

(from the Greek kryptós and gráphein, "to write") is the study of the principles and techniques by which information can be concealed in ciphers or codes and retrieved by users employing the secret key, but in which it is either impossible or computationally infeasible for an unauthorized person to do so.

The mathematical process of converting information into a secret code so that it can be safely transmitted over a public network such as the Internet.

The science of providing security for information through the reversible transformation of data.

Cryptography is a technique to mathematically code the information that is passed through public networks so that it is unreadable to anyone. These codes can only be read by the person who holds the mathematical key to decode the information. Cryptography is mainly used for security purposes.

The art and science of rendering plain text unintelligible and for converting encrypted messages into intelligible form.

The science of developing, analysing and deciphering techniques applied to data for secure communication purposes.

The process of scrambling and unscrambling information so that only the intended parties can read it. Example: When a customer makes a purchase online, cryptography can prevent everyone but the intended merchant from reading the user's Visa account number and card expiration date.

The art and science to keeping messages secure

The art and science of information security. It includes information confidentiality, data integrity, entity authentication, and data origin authentication.

a method of mathematically scrambling information while it is in transit between machines so that it cannot be understood by people who do not have the "key" to decode it. This process is typically used to pass sensitive data such as credit card details.

The study and practice of keeping data secure. Two common applications of cryptography are privacy (preventing unauthorized viewing of data) and authentication (proving one's identity to access data or as the source of a message). Cryptography links kept at Counterpane Systems

Cryptography is the field concerned with linguistic and mathematical techniques for securing information, particularly in communications. Historically, cryptography was concerned solely with encryption; that is, means of converting information from its normal, comprehensible form into an incomprehensible format, rendering it unreadable without secret knowledge. Encryption was used primarily to ensure secrecy in important communications, such as those of spies, military leaders, and diplomats. In recent decades, however, the field of cryptography has expanded its remit: modern cryptography provides mechanisms for more than just keeping secrets and has a variety of applications including, for example, authentication, digital signatures, electronic voting and digital cash. Moreover, people without extraordinary needs for secrecy use cryptographic technology, which is often built transparently into much of computing and telecommunications infrastructure.

The science of providing secrecy, integrity and non-repudiation for data.

Literally, the word means the art of secret writing. It means the conversion of writing into a form that cannot be understood without specific knowledge. (Cryptography started long before computers, with the ancient Egyptians. Computers have simply helped to automate the processes.) Cryptography is not the only method you can use to communicate information secretly. Steganography is a technique for hiding information inside other information (a picture with a person wearing a hat has one meaning, and the same picture with the person not wearing a hat has a different meaning).

Art or science concerning the principles, means, and methods for rendering plain information unintelligible and of restoring encrypted information to intelligible form (JCS 1997; NSTISSI 1996).

set of methods for encrypting information to prevent it from being read by anyone who intercepts the messege. Used in variety of civil and military applications.

The practice and study of encryption and decryption -- encoding data so that it can only be decoded by specific individuals. A system for encrypting and decrypting data is a cryptosystem. This usually involves an algorithm for combining the original data with one or more keys -- numbers or strings of characters known only to the sender and recipient. The resulting output is know as ciphertext. Return to the top

The science of applying a complex set of mathematical algorithms to sensitive data with the aim of making Bruce Schneier exceedingly rich

The practice of digitally "scrambling" a message using a secret key or keys.

is the conversion of data into a secret code. The original text or plaintext is converted into a coded equivalent called ciphertext using an encryption algorithm. The ciphertext is decoded or decrypted at the receiving end and turned back into plaintext. The encryption algorithm uses a key, which is a binary number typically from 40 to 128 bits in length. The greater the number of bits in the key, the more possible key combinations and the longer it would take to break the code. The data are encrypted, or locked, by combining the bits in the key mathematically with the data bits. At the receiving end, the key is used to unlock the code and restore the original data.

The art or science of transforming clear, meaningful information into an enciphered, unintelligible form using an algorithm and a key.

The process of transforming data into meaningless form. This can be done either as part of a hashing process, used to establish that the data has not been changed, or an encryption process which obscures it's meaning until the related decryption process has been carried out.

The study of methods of enciphering and deciphering messages to conceal the contents of a message.

The discipline which embodies principles, means, and methods for the transformation of data in order to hide its information content,prevent its undetected modification and/or prevent its unauthorised use. Note - Cryptography determines the methods used in Encipherment and decipherment. An attack on a cryptographic principle, means,or method is crypt analysis. source: ITU-T X.800 domain: Security usage

cryptography - The study or analysis of codes and encoding methods used to secure information. Cryptographic techniques can be used to enable and ensure confidentiality, data integrity, authentication (entity and data origin), and nonrepudiation.

The use of codes to convert data by using a key so that only a specific recipient will be able to read it. Cryptography is used to enable authentication and nonrepudiation, and to help preserve confidentiality and data integrity.

The study of how to conceal, or ENCRYPT, a secret message between a sender and receiver, over an insecure line.

A coding method in which data is encrypted (translated into an unreadable format) and then decrypted (translated back into a readable format by someone with a secret key) using an algorithm. Cryptography is used to send or store information securely. See public key cryptography.

Cryptography is the science of information security. Cryptography includes techniques such as microdots, merging words with images, and other ways to hide information in storage or transit. Cryptography is most often associated with scrambling plain text into cipher text, a process called encryption, then back again using a process called decryption. Individuals who practice this field are known as cryptographers.

This is the science of ensuring that messages are secure. Cryptographic systems are based on the concepts of authentication, integrity, confidentiality and non-repudiation.

A means of making information inaccessible to those without the authority to read it. Cryptography may be used to make information secret (confidential) or to identify the creator of information, or both.

A process associated with scrambling plaintext (ordinary text, or cleartext) into ciphertext (a process called encryption), then back again (known as decryption). Cryptography concerns itself with four objectives: 1) Confidentiality (the information cannot be understood by anyone for whom it was unintended) 2) Integrity (the information cannot be altered in storage or transit between sender and intended receiver without the alteration being detected) 3) Non-repudiation (the creator/sender of the information cannot deny at a later stage his or her intentions in the creation or transmission of the information) 4) Authentication (the sender and receiver can confirm each other's identity and the origin/destination of the information) Procedures and protocols that meet some or all of the above criteria are known as cryptosystems.

Public Key and Asymmetric - Public-key cryptography uses a pair of keys, one that is designated the private key and kept secret, the other key is called the public key and is generally made available. Information encrypted using one key can only be decrypted using the other, and vice versa. The implication of this is that if a message can be decrypted using the public key, then it must have been sent from the owner of the private key.

The practice of encoding and decoding data, resulting in secure messages.

The science of writing or reading coded messages.

A field of mathematics and computer science concerned with information security and related issues, particularly encryption and authentication. See also: authentication, encryption

Mechanisms and practices used to encode data for security purposes.

The art of protecting information by transforming it (encrypting it) into an unreadable format, called cipher text. Only those who possess a secret key can decipher (or decrypt) the message into plain text. As the internet and other forms of electronic communication become more prevalent, electronic security is becoming increasingly important. Cryptography is used to protect email messages, credit card information, and corporate data. Cryptography systems can be broadly classified into symmetric-key systems that use a single key that both the sender and recipient have, and public-key systems that use two keys, a public key known to everyone and a private key that only the recipient of messages uses.

The process of concealing the contents of a message from all except those who know the key. Cryptography is used to protect e-mail messages, credit card information, and corporate data. As the Internet and other forms of electronic communication become more prevalent, electronic security is also becoming increasingly important.

The art and science of creating messages that have some combination of being private, signed, and unmodified with non-repudiation.

The art and practice of scrambling (encrypting) and unscrambling (decrypting) information. For example, cryptographic techniques are used to scramble an unscramble information flowing between commercial web sites and your browser. See also public-key cryptography.

The processes, art, and science of keeping messages and data secure. Cryptography is used to enable and ensure confidentiality, data integrity, authentication (entity and data origin), and nonrepudiation.

The conversion of data into a secret code for protection of privacy using a specific algorithm and a secret key. The original text, or “plaintext”, is converted into a coded equivalent called “cipher text” via an encryption algorithm. The cipher text can only be decoded (decrypted) using a predefined secret key.

Coding the contents of a message to prevent unauthorised access.

The branch of cryptology dealing with the design of algorithms for encryption and decryption, intended to ensure the secrecy and/or authenticity of messages.

The art and science of using mathematics to secure information and create a high degree of trust in the electronic realm. See also public-key, symmetric-key, and threshold cryptography.

The science of applying mathematical theory in developing and advancing new algorithms and security procedures.

Mathematical discipline that is concerned with finding methods for keeping communications private, unimpaired, and authentic. Today's cryptography is based on the existence of mathematical problems that are believed (by experts) to be difficult.

Cryptography (or cryptology; derived from Greek κρυπτός kryptós "hidden," and the verb γράφω gráfo "write") is the study of message secrecy. In modern times, it has become a branch of information theory, as the mathematical study of information and especially its transmission from place to place. The noted cryptographer Ron Rivest has observed that "cryptography is about communication in the presence of adversaries."