8.07.2008

Define: Encryption & Cryptography

Encryption:
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information (referred to as plaintext) using an algorithm (called cipher) to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information (in cryptography, referred to as ciphertext). In many contexts, the word encryption also implicitly refers to the reverse process, decryption (e.g. “software for encryption” can typically also perform decryption), to make the encrypted information readable again (i.e. to make it unencrypted)...

Encryption, by itself, can protect the confidentiality of messages, but other techniques are still needed to protect the integrity and authenticity of a message; for example, verification of a message authentication code (MAC) or a digital signature....

This term is somewhat a misnomer, but is very commonly used as described above. More correctly, the term "encyphering" should be used (along with "decyphering" for decoding a cryptographically encoded message, when you know the cipher and key). "Decrypt" actually means to decode a message when you do not know the cypher and/or key (i.e., codebreaking)....



Cipher:
Historical pen and paper ciphers used in the past are sometimes known as classical ciphers. They include simple substitution ciphers and transposition ciphers...
Source: Wiki


Cryptography:
Cryptography (or cryptology; derived from Greek κρύπτω krýpto "hidden" and the verb γράφω gráfo "to write" or λέγειν legein "to speak") is the practice and study of hiding information. In modern times, cryptography is considered a branch of both mathematics and computer science, and is affiliated closely with information theory, computer security, and engineering....

Before the modern era, cryptography was concerned solely with message confidentiality (i.e., encryption) — conversion of messages from a comprehensible form into an incomprehensible one, and back again at the other end, rendering it unreadable by interceptors or eavesdroppers without secret knowledge (namely, the key needed for decryption of that message)....
Source: Wiki

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