A cipher device was a term used by the US military in the first half of the 20th century to describe a manually operated cipher equipment that converted the

plaintext In cryptography, plaintext usually means unencrypted information pending input into cryptographic algorithms, usually encryption algorithms. This usually refers to data that is transmitted or stored unencrypted. Overview With the advent of comp ...

into

ciphertext In cryptography, ciphertext or cyphertext is the result of encryption performed on plaintext using an algorithm, called a cipher. Ciphertext is also known as encrypted or encoded information because it contains a form of the original plaintext ...

or vice versa. A similar term, cipher machine, was used to describe the cipher equipment that required external power for operation. Cipher box or crypto box is a physical

cryptographic Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More gen ...

device used to

encrypt In cryptography, encryption (more specifically, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plai ...

and

decrypt In cryptography, encryption (more specifically, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plai ...

messages between plaintext (unencrypted) and ciphertext (encrypted or secret) forms. The ciphertext is suitable for transmission over a channel, such as radio, that might be observed by an adversary the communicating parties wish to conceal the plaintext from.

References

Sources

* {{military-stub Cryptography

See also

References

Sources