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Key (cryptography)
In
cryptography
, a
key
is a piece of information (a
parameter
) that determines the functional output of a cryptographic
algorithm
or
cipher
. Without a key, the algorithm would produce no useful result. In
encryption
, a key specifies the particular transformation of
plaintext
into
ciphertext
, or vice versa during
decryption
. Keys are also used in other cryptographic algorithms, such as
digital signature
schemes and
message authentication codes
.
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