Quantum Computing Risk
Elena Yndurain · 2025
C ryptography is an ancient technique used for encrypting information to keep it secret and prevent it from being read by an unauthorized party. At its core, cryptography involves taking readable data (plaintext) and using a mathematical process (algorithm) along with a secret key to transform it into an encoded version known as ciphertext. To decipher the ciphertext, a secret key must be used. In the case of a symmetric cipher the same key is used for encryption and decryption, as we explain in this section.