Definition: The science and art of encrypting and decrypting information. Cryptography enables securing data so that only an intended recipient can decrypt and read it.
Key Features:
Confidentiality: Ensures information is shielded from unauthorized access.
Integrity: Ensures data has not been altered during transmission or storage.
Authenticity: Confirms the genuineness of a message or a sender.
Common Methods:
Symmetric Encryption: One key is used for both encryption and decryption.
Asymmetric Encryption: Utilizes a pair of keys: a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption.
Hash Functions: Produce a fixed-size output from input data of any length, often for data integrity checking.
Applications: Online transactions, secure communication, digital signatures, password storage, and many other areas of information and IT security.