About
In cryptography, encryption is the conversion of plaintext into a coded text or ciphertext; a ciphertext is intended to be unreadable by unauthorised readers1.
How it works
Encryption is a cryptographic primitive: it transforms a plaintext message into a ciphertext using a cryptographic algorithm called a cipher. Encryption in modern ciphers is performed using a specific algorithm and a secret, called the key. Since the algorithm is often public, the key must stay secret if the encyrption stays secure. #+begin_center
Encryption © Mozilla
Without knowing the secret, the reverse operation, decryption , is mathematically hard to perform. How hard depends on the security of the cryptographic algorithm chosen and evolves with the progress of cryptanalysis.
Anki
Links
References
MDN. “encryption”. Available at: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Encryption . (Accessed: ). ↩︎