| (I) Usually shortened to just "key". An input parameter that
varies the transformation performed by a cryptographic algorithm.
(O) "A sequence of symbols that controls the operations of
encipherment and decipherment." [I7498 Part 2]
(C) If a key value needs to be kept secret, the sequence of
symbols (usually bits) that comprise it should be random, or at
least pseudo-random, because that makes the key hard for an
adversary to guess. (See: cryptanalysis, brute force attack.)
|
