What is encryption?

• A. The process of converting ciphertext back into plaintext
• B. The process of converting plaintext into ciphertext to protect confidentiality
• C. The process of generating random numbers
• D. The process of verifying data integrity

Answer: (C)

Encryption is the process of turning plaintext into ciphertext to protect confidentiality. It uses an algorithm and a key to scramble the data so that only someone with the correct key can restore it to plaintext. There are two broad approaches: symmetric encryption uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt, while asymmetric encryption uses a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption. Decryption is the reverse operation that returns ciphertext to its original readable form. Other cryptographic tasks, like generating random numbers, are primitives that support encryption, and verifying data integrity involves ensuring the data hasn’t been altered, which is a separate concern from confidentiality.