Security+ Training Guide

Encryption Algorithms

Understand the various encryption algorithms used in cryptography.

At its most basic level, an algorithm is simply a set of steps that can be sequenced and repeated each time. In encryption, the algorithm is used to define how the encryption is applied, how the data held inside is encrypted, and how the data is decrypted on the other end.

Think of the algorithm as the guidebook to how any particular encryption method is applied. The method of applying encryption to data or information can also be called a cryptography cipher.

NOTE

The Art of Using Cryptography Using cryptography to mask the actual meaning of written text has been commonplace since before the Roman Empire. However, the Romans were one of the first people ...