encrypt
to convert (a message or the like) into cipher or code: The letter was encrypted before being mailed to protect it from any prying eyes.
Computers. to change (digital data) into a form that cannot be read without converting it back using a unique key: The protocol encrypts all of your personal information, including credit card number, name, and address, so that it cannot be stolen.
Origin of encrypt
1Other words from encrypt
- en·cryp·tion, en·cryp·ta·tion [en-krip-tey-shuhn], /ɛnˌkrɪpˈteɪ ʃən/, noun
Words Nearby encrypt
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use encrypt in a sentence
An encrypted message is then shared over a conventional communication channel and the quantum key is used to decipher it.
A New Breakthrough Just Brought City-Wide Quantum Communication Into Reach | Edd Gent | September 7, 2020 | Singularity HubChi Mak, a naturalized US citizen born in China, is arrested after his brother was stopped at Los Angeles International Airport carrying encrypted disks containing information from Chi.
A brief history of US-China espionage entanglements | Konstantin Kakaes | September 3, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewThe malware was designed to install ransomware, a kind of malware that encrypts a victim’s files in exchange for a ransom.
Elon Musk confirms Tesla was target of foiled ransomware attack | Kirsten Korosec | August 28, 2020 | TechCrunchThe indictment also notes that Bannon and his alleged co-conspirators began using encrypted messaging apps after learning a federal investigation was underway.
5 crazy details from the case against Steve Bannon—including ‘a boat named Warfighter’ | Jeff | August 20, 2020 | FortuneThat was a scary prospect for computer security experts, because the fact that such a task is difficult is essential to the way computers encrypt sensitive information.
To live up to the hype, quantum computers must repair their error problems | Emily Conover | June 22, 2020 | Science News
That refers to software that can encrypt chat communications, emails, and more.
How to Keep the NSA at Bay: The Tricks From Privacy Experts | Winston Ross | June 8, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThere are often steps taken by hackers to use sophisticated mathematical formulas to encrypt their communications.
Did Iran’s Cyber-Army Hack Into the IAEA’s computers? | Eli Lake | December 5, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTIf the government really wants to stop WikiLeaks, it can encrypt its cables.
How the State Department Can Stop the Next WikiLeaks | James C. Goodale | December 1, 2010 | THE DAILY BEASTSo instead of just encrypting the message with your private key, you also encrypt it with your boss's public key.
Little Brother | Cory DoctorowYou'd encrypt the message with your private key and my public key.
Little Brother | Cory DoctorowI'd decrypt it, read it, re-encrypt it with your boss's real public key and send it on.
Little Brother | Cory Doctorow
British Dictionary definitions for encrypt
/ (ɪnˈkrɪpt) /
to put (a message) into code
to put (computer data) into a coded form
to distort (a television or other signal) so that it cannot be understood without the appropriate decryption equipment
Origin of encrypt
1Derived forms of encrypt
- encrypted, adjective
- encryption, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for encrypt
[ ĕn-krĭpt ]
To alter information using a code or mathematical algorithm so as to be unintelligible to unauthorized readers.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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