The result of enciphering Ciphertext will contain the same information as the original plaintext, but hide the original information, typically under the control of a key Without the key it should be impractical to recover the original information from the ciphertext
The output of an encryption function Encryption transforms plaintext into ciphertext
Plaintext converted into a secretive format through the use of an encryption algorithm An encryption key can unlock the original plaintext from ciphertext