Encryption

1. Cryptographic process of transforming data (called “plaintext”) into a form (called “ciphertext”) that conceals the data’s original meaning to prevent it from being known or used. Encryption provides confidentiality protection.

Source: Election Terminology Glossary - Draft, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), https://pages.nist.gov/ElectionGlossary/

2. Process of obscuring information by changing plain text into ciphertext for the purpose of security or privacy.

Source: Glossary of terms database U.S. Election Assistance Commission https://www.eac.gov/glossary/

3. The process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties (or software applications) can read it. Encryption does not prevent interception, but denies the message content to the interceptor. Encrypted information must be decrypted before it can be rendered into plain text or other usable format. Encryption and decryption add overhead to processing and can slow systems down. Voting systems will commonly encrypt data within a voting system component before transmitting it to another device.

Source: Information Technology Terminology, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, https://www.eac.gov/documents/2017/09/21/information-technology-terminology-security

4. The conversion of plaintext, by means of a defined system (e.g., a “cipher”), so that it is unintelligible to an unauthorized recipient.

Source: Cyber Threats to Elections – A Lexicon, Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center & Office of the Director of National Intelligence, https://www.dni.gov/files/CTIIC/documents/CTIIC_2018_Lexicon_without_banner_small_file_for_Post.pdf

5. The process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties (or software applications) can read it. Encryption does not prevent interception, but denies the message content to the interceptor. Encrypted information must be decrypted before it can be rendered into plain text or other usable format. Encryption and decryption add overhead to processing and can slow systems down. Voting systems will commonly encrypt data within a voting system component before transmitting it to another device.

Source: The State and Local Election Cybersecurity Playbook, Defending Digital Democracy Project, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/files/publication/StateLocalPlaybook%201.1.pdf

6. The process of transforming plaintext into ciphertext. Extended Definition: Converting data into a form that cannot be easily understood by unauthorized people.

Source: National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (NICCS) Explore Terms: A Glossary of Common Cybersecurity Terminology National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (NICCS) https://niccs.us-cert.gov/about-niccs/glossary

7. Any procedure used in cryptography to convert plaintext into an encrypted message in order to prevent any but the intended recipient from reading that data.

Source: Independent Panel on Internet Voting, British Columbia, https://elections.bc.ca/docs/recommendations-report.pdf

8. A procedure to convert plain text into cipher text.

Source: U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission, March 2020, https://subscriber.politicopro.com/f/?id=00000170-c638-d8f7-a7f1-f63b33510000