Cryptography (=secret writing)

The way to transform plain text (=normally written text) into something that can be read only by allowed people

The transformation is done with encoding

To get the original text, you need to use decoding: only the recipient is able to decode the text.

In cryptography, encoding is called encryption, decoding is called decryption.

Keys → Can be symmetric or asymmetric, depending on the algorythm used. Symmetric: key is shared between sender and recipient. Use to both encrypt and decrypt. Asymmetric: two keys, one is “public” and the other is “private”. Private encryption → public decryption, Public encryption → private decryption