Fundamental encryption terms

Key Terms

    Plaintext:

data before encryption.

    Ciphertext:

the result of applying encryption algorithm to data.

    Cipher:

 the algorithm for performing encryption or decryption.

    Key:

 the operation of cipher usually depends on a piece of information, called a key.

Two categories of encryption methods

    Symmetric encryption:

In symmetric encryption, there is just one key. This key is used to encrypt and to decrypt.

    Asymmetric encryption

In Asymmetric encryption, two different keys are used, one for encryption and the other for decryption. The key which is not a secret is called the public key, the one that is a secret is called the private key. Public key and private key are such a pair that when one is used to encrypt the other and only the other can be used to decrypt.