Cryptographic terms

Plaintext
In cryptography, plaintext is information a sender wishes to transmit to a receiver. Cleartext is often
used as a synonym. Before the computer era, plaintext most commonly meant message text in the
language of the communicating parties. Plaintext has reference to the operation of cryptographic
algorithms, usually encryption algorithms, and is the input upon which they operate.Cleartext, by
contrast, refers to data that is transmitted or stored unencrypted (that is, 'in the clear').
Since computers became commonly available, the definition has also encompassed not only
electronic representations of the traditional text, for instance, messages (e.g., email) and document
content (e.g., word processor files), but also the computer representations of sound (e.g., speech or
music), images (e.g., photos or videos), ATM and credit card transaction information, sensor data,
and so forth. Few of these are directly meaningful to humans, being already transformed into
computer manipulable forms. Basically, any information which the communicating parties wish to
conceal from others can now be treated, and referred to, as plaintext. Thus, in a significant sense,
plaintext is the 'normal' representation of data before any action has been taken to conceal,
compress, or 'digest' it. It need not represent text, and even if it does, the text may not be "plain".
Plaintext is used as input to an encryption algorithm; the output is usually termed ciphertext
particularly when the algorithm is a cipher. Codetext is less often used, and almost always only when
the algorithm involved is actually a code. In some systems, however, multiple layers of encryption are
used, in which case the output of one encryption algorithm becomes plaintext input for the next.
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryptiona
series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is
encipherment. To encipher or encode is to convert information from plain text into cipher or code. In
non-technical usage, a 'cipher' is the same thing as a 'code'; however, the concepts are distinct in
cryptography. In classical cryptography, ciphers were distinguished from codes.
Codes generally substitute different length strings of characters in the output, whilst ciphers generally
substitute the same number of characters as are input. There are exceptions and some cipher
systems may use slightly more, or fewer, characters when output versus the number that were input.
Codes operated by substituting according to a large codebook which linked a random string of
characters or numbers to a word or phrase. For example, "UQJHSE" could be the code for "Proceed
to the following coordinates". When using a cipher the original information is known as plaintext, and
the encrypted form as ciphertext. The ciphertext message contains all the information of the plaintext
message, but is not in a format readable by a human or computer without the proper mechanism to
decrypt it.
In colloquial use, the term "code" is often used to mean any method of encryption or concealment of
meaning. However, in cryptography, code has a more specific meaning. It means the replacement of
a unit of plaintext (i.e., a meaningful word or phrase) with a code word (for example, wallaby replaces
attack at dawn). Codes are no longer used in serious cryptographyexcept incidentally for such
things as unit designations (e.g., Bronco Flight or Operation Overlord)since properly chosen ciphers
are both more practical and more secure than even the best codes and also are better adapted to
computers.
The operation of a cipher usually depends on a piece of auxiliary information, called a key (or, in
traditional NSA parlance, a cryptovariable). The encrypting procedure is varied depending on the key,
which changes the detailed operation of the algorithm. A key must be selected before using a cipher
to encrypt a message. Without knowledge of the key, it should be extremely difficult, if not impossible,
to decrypt the resulting ciphertext into readable plaintext.
Most modern ciphers can be categorized in several ways
By whether they work on blocks of symbols usually of a fixed size (block ciphers), or on a
continuous stream of symbols (stream ciphers).
By whether the same key is used for both encryption and decryption (symmetric key
algorithms), or if a different key is used for each (asymmetric key algorithms). If the
algorithm is symmetric, the key must be known to the recipient and sender and to no one
else. If the algorithm is an asymmetric one, the enciphering key is different from, but
closely related to, the deciphering key. If one key cannot be deduced from the other, the
asymmetric key algorithm has the public/private key property and one of the keys may be
made public without loss of confidentiality.

A block cipher is a method of encrypting text (to produce ciphertext) in which a
cryptographic key and algorithm are applied to a block of data (for example, 64 contiguous
bits) at once as a group rather than to one bit at a time. The main alternative method, used
much less frequently, is called the stream cipher.
So that identical blocks of text do not get encrypted the same way in a message (which
might make it easier to decipher the ciphertext), it is common to apply the ciphertext from
the previous encrypted block to the next block in a sequence. So that identical messages
encrypted on the same day do not produce identical ciphertext, an initialization vector
derived from a random number generator is combined with the text in the first block and
the key. This ensures that all subsequent blocks result in ciphertext that doesn't match that
of the first encrypting.
A stream cipher is a method of encrypting text (to produce ciphertext) in which a
cryptographic key and algorithm are applied to each binary digit in a data stream, one bit at
a time. This method is not much used in modern cryptography. The main alternative
method is the block cipher in which a key and algorithm are applied to blocks of data rather
than individual bits in a stream.

Ciphertext
In cryptography, ciphertext (or cyphertext) is the result of encryption performed on plaintext using an
algorithm, called a cipher.
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Ciphertext is also known as encrypted or encoded information because it
contains a form of the original plaintext that is unreadable by a human or computer without the proper
cipher to decrypt it. Decryption, the inverse of encryption, is the process of turning ciphertext into
readable plaintext. Ciphertext is not to be confused with codetext because the latter is a result of a
code, not a cipher.

Key (cryptography)
In cryptography, a key is a piece of information (a parameter) that determines the functional output of
a cryptographic algorithm or cipher. Without a key, the algorithm would produce no useful result. In
encryption, a key specifies the particular transformation of plaintext into ciphertext, or vice versa
during decryption. Keys are also used in other cryptographic algorithms, such as digital signature
schemes and message authentication codes.