Discrete Math Notes:
Chapter 8: Applications of Discrete Mathematics
8.7 Introduction to cryptography
Cryptography, the science of protecting and authenticating data and communication.
symmetric key cryptosystem, value of a shared secret key.
Overview:
The science of encrypting and authenticating data and communication is known as cryptography. The process of sending communications securely in the presence of eavesdroppers who can acquire the sent information is an important part of cryptography. A cryptosystem is a method of sending a communication from a sender to a recipient. The sender encrypts the communication so that an eavesdropper will be unable to recover the original message if she knows the transmitted message. The plaintext is the unencrypted message, whereas the ciphertext is the encrypted message. The recipient will need a secret key to decrypt the ciphertext and recover the original plaintext.