Cryptography

In the previous chapters, we learned that one way to prevent an attacker from accessing your confidential information is to store this information encrypted. But what is encryption and cryptography, and how can we (or businesses whose services we use) achieve this?

Encryption (also: enciphering) is the action of hiding your data by replacing it with code called cypher text or cipher text (consisting of some randomly scrambled letters.)

Cryptography is a compound of two Greek words: crypto means 'hidden' or 'secret', and grapho means 'write'. That is, cryptography is about creating code that can't be easily understood.

Decryption (also: deciphering) is the opposite of encryption: it is the action of converting the cipher text back into plain text (your original data/information.)