Which term describes transforming readable data into an unreadable form that requires a key to restore?

Which term describes transforming readable data into an unreadable form that requires a key to restore?

• A. Hashing
• B. Encryption
• C. Encoding
• D. Compression

Answer: (B)

Encryption is the process of transforming readable data into an unreadable form that requires a key to restore. This makes the information confidential, because only someone with the correct decryption key can recover the original data, whether using the same key (symmetric) or a different one (asymmetric). Hashing, in contrast, produces a fixed-length value from data and is designed to be one-way; you can’t practically recover the original message from the hash, and no key is used. Encoding changes data into a different representation (like Base64) to enable transmission or storage, but it’s easily reversible and doesn’t rely on secrecy. Compression reduces the data size and also does not hide the content. Therefore, the term that fits transforming readable data into an unreadable form that requires a key to restore is encryption.

Encryption is the process of transforming readable data into an unreadable form that requires a key to restore. This makes the information confidential, because only someone with the correct decryption key can recover the original data, whether using the same key (symmetric) or a different one (asymmetric).

Hashing, in contrast, produces a fixed-length value from data and is designed to be one-way; you can’t practically recover the original message from the hash, and no key is used. Encoding changes data into a different representation (like Base64) to enable transmission or storage, but it’s easily reversible and doesn’t rely on secrecy. Compression reduces the data size and also does not hide the content. Therefore, the term that fits transforming readable data into an unreadable form that requires a key to restore is encryption.