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Terminology

A sender (Bob) wants to send a message to a receiver (Alice) securely - wants to make sure no eavesdropper can read message.



\psfig{figure=figures/encryption.ps,width=4in,height=2.5in}

plaintext - original message
encryption - process of disguising message to hide its contents
ciphertext - encrypted message
decryption - process of turning ciphertext back into plaintext
cryptography - science of keeping messages secure
cryptanalysis - science of breaking ciphertext


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