340 RSA BSAFE Crypto-C Developer’s Guide
AES
Advanced Encryption Standard.
algorithm
A series of steps used to complete a task.
Alice
The name traditionally used for the first
user of cryptography in a system; Bob's
friend.
ANSI
American National Standards Institute.
API
Application Programming Interface.
attack
Either a successful or unsuccessful
attempt at breaking part or all of a
cryptosystem. See algebraic attack,
birthday attack, brute force attack,
chosen ciphertext attack, chosen
plaintext attack, differential
cryptanalysis, known plaintext attack,
linear cryptanalysis, and middleperson
attack.
authentication
The action of verifying information such
as identity, ownership, or authorization.
BER
Basic Encoding Rules. A set of rules for
representing ASN.1 objects as strings of
ones and zeros. DER is a subset of BER.
bit
A binary digit, either 1 or 0.
block cipher
A symmetric cipher which encrypts a
message by breaking it down into fixed
size blocks and encrypting each block.
Bob
The name traditionally used for the
secon d us er o f cr ypto gra phy in a syst em;
Alice's friend.
CA
See certifying authority.
CAPI
Cryptographic Application
Programming Interface.
certificate
In cryptography, an electronic document
binding some pieces of information
together, such as a user's identity and
public key. Certifying Authorities (CA's)
provide certificates.
Certifying Authority (CA)
A person or organization that creates
certificates.
checksum
Used in error detection, a checksum is a
computation done on the message and
transmitted with the message; similar to
using parity bits.
cipher
An encryption-decryption algorithm.
ciphertext
Encrypted data.