Cryptography Stack Exchange
Cryptography Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [terminology]

Questions about the meaning and proper use of specific technical terms or notation within cryptography.

Terminology describes the vocabulary of technical terms used in a particular field or on a specific subject; in this case: cryptographic terms… which frequently overlap with scientific terms.

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Is there any difference between cryptography and cryptology?

Is there a difference between cryptography and cryptology, if any? An internet search suggests that both terms can be used interchangeably.
Nathan Aw
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How are the names of cryptographic algorithms (like RSA, AES, SHA-256, Curve25519, etc.) pronounced?

I'll have to give a spoken presentation on cryptography and I don't want to make any pronunciation mistakes. Therefore I'm asking how I should pronounce acronyms like RSA, AES, SHA-1, SHA-256, IGE and CBC, Curve25519, ECDH, MAC, HMAC, etc., both in…
M-elman
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Boolean Circuits vs Arithmetic Circuits

I am just wondering what's the differences between boolean circuits and arithmetic circuits? I know the basic notions of circuits. My question is their applications in cryptography. For example, why we should consider them separately (e.g., why we…
CryptoLover
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Cryptography vs Security

This may sound a little bit of basic but here it goes… Which of the following is correct? “Cryptography is under the security field”, or “Security is under the cryptography field?” Cryptography is all about encryption and decryption.…
Giliweed
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What does puncturing in cryptography mean

While I was reading the documentation for the cryptocode $\LaTeX$ package I stumbled across the "primitive" called puncturing in subsection 2.12. This was the first time I read about this "primitive". Additionally, I am no native speaker, which is…
Titanlord
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Simulation-based security?

I've been reading Introduction to Modern Cryptography by Katz and Lindell as an introduction to cryptography. The book seems to use the term 'simulator' when it talks about a game like, for instance, how it defines CPA-security as an interaction…
evc
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What does the term “nontrivial rotation” mean?

The paper “Gimli: a cross-platform permutation” contains the following information: Occasionally (after rounds 24, 20, 16, etc.) Gimli adds an asymmetric constant to entry 0 of the first row. This constant has many bits set (it is essentially the…
lyrically wicked
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What does the term "asymptotic security" mean?

The Stellar cryptocurrency whitepaper lists "asymptotic security" as a key advantage over other consensus protocols (for example, proof-of-work in Bitcoin). What do they mean by this? As I understood it, it refers to guaranteed safety, as in:…
bkoodaa
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What do they mean when saying that a certain value should be “super-logarithmic”?

What do they mean when saying that a certain value should be “super-logarithmic”? I've found the Wikipedia definition of a “super-logarithm”, but I'm having trouble understanding how a given value can be super-logarithmic (in some security…
giddy
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Inconsistent terminology for ciphers and algorithms

I've been baffled by all the different kinds of names which are given to cryptographic algorithms. There are block ciphers and stream ciphers (AES and RC4). There is symmetric and asymmetric encryption (AES and RSA). I get that block ciphers and…
Vincent
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What kind of encryption function is also used for decryption?

Is there a name for the particular type of encryption algorithm or function which is the same algorithm or function used for decryption? This is a vocabulary question, because I'm largely unfamiliar with the terminology of encryption. Expressed…
user47904
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Define "cryptographer"

I often encounter the phrase "I am not a cryptographer". Is there a generally accepted definition for who is a cryptographer? What qualifications would be expected? For instance, should that person be expected to hold a relevant degree, or to have…
Tim McLean
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Generic name for (?hash) functions of form $\{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\}^{poly(n)}$

Consider a function $$f: \{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\}^{poly(n)} $$ with the following properties: hard to invert, i.e. given $f(x)$, hard to find $x$ hard to find a collision, i.e given $f(x)$, hard to find $x'$, such that $f(x') =…
Subhayan
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Differences between algorithms, ciphers, primitives and functionalities

Working in security, I often hear terms such as algorithms, ciphers, primitives and functionalities. but as cryptography is not my field, they seem to be used interchangeably. What are the differences between all those terms, and what nuances do…
SaltyChips
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Difference between computationally and perfectly hiding (binding) properties

I am new to Cryptography and has a trouble of understanding the difference between perfect and computationally hiding (binding) properties of a commitment scheme. I also would like to ask what does it mean to be a computationally bounded (unbounded)…
Chito Miranda
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