What Is Encryption?

Encryption encodes data, so only programs that know how to decode it can read it. It uses an algorithm—a set of ordered steps—to alter the information so that the receiving party can’t read it without applying a similar algorithm to return it to its original state.

Encoding data is called encrypting. Decoding is called decrypting. The original unencrypted data is called plaintext, while we refer to the encrypted data as ciphertext. So, we encrypt plaintext into ciphertext and decrypt the ciphertext back into plaintext.