What Is an Encryption Algorithm?

The basic process of data encryption is to process the original plaintext file or data according to some algorithm to make it an unreadable piece of code as "ciphertext", so that it can only show the original after entering the corresponding key This way, the purpose of protecting data from being stolen and read by illegal persons is achieved through such channels. The reverse process of this process is decryption, that is, the process of converting the encoded information into its original data.

According to records, in 400 BC, the ancient Greeks invented the replacement code. In 1881, the world's first telephone privacy patent appeared. During the Second World War, the German military launched the "Enigma" cryptographic machine,

An encryption system S can be described by mathematical symbols as follows:

S = {P, C, K, E, D}

among them

Pplaintext space, which represents the set of plaintext that may appear in the whole,

CCiphertext space, which represents the set of ciphertexts that may appear in the whole,

K

Such as

In today's information security field, there are various encryption algorithms that embody the wisdom of computer scientists. From a macro perspective, these encryption algorithms can be grouped into three major categories: hash algorithms , symmetric encryption algorithms, and asymmetric encryption algorithms. ^[3]