Cipher
A cipher is a particular function which we use to encrypt and decrypt messages. It’s the mathematical function that takes the plaintext and produces the ciphertext, and the reverse cipher function does the opposite - it takes the ciphertext and produces the plaintext.
Types of cipher
There are thousands of different possible ciphers, but a few common ones are:
flashcards
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is a cipher? | It’s a mathematical function used to encrypt and decrypt messages. It takes plaintext and produces ciphertext; the reverse function takes ciphertext and produces plaintext. |
| Name two common types of ciphers. | Caesar cipher and Vernam cipher. |