Part 1: General - Computer Security Resource Center - National ...

March, 2007
Backup A copy of information to facilitate recovery during the cryptoperiod of
the key, if necessary.
Certificate See public key certificate.
Certification authority The entity in a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) that is responsible for
issuing certificates, and exacting compliance to a PKI policy.
Ciphertext Data in its encrypted form.
Collision Two or more distinct inputs produce the same output. Also see hash
function.
Compromise The unauthorized disclosure, modification, substitution or use of
sensitive data (e.g., keying material and other security related
information).
Confidentiality The property that sensitive information is not disclosed to unauthorized
entities.
Contingency plan A plan that is maintained for disaster response, backup operations, and
post-disaster recovery to ensure the availability of critical resources
and to facilitate the continuity of operations in an emergency situation.
Contingency planning The development of a contingency plan.
Cryptanalysis 1. Operations performed in defeating cryptographic protection without
an initial knowledge of the key employed in providing the
protection.
Cryptographic
Algorithm
Cryptographic
Boundary
Cryptographic Hash
Function
2. The study of mathematical techniques for attempting to defeat
cryptographic techniques and information system security. This
includes the process of looking for errors or weaknesses in the
implementation of an algorithm or of the algorithm itself.
A well-defined computational procedure that takes variable inputs
including a cryptographic key and produces an output.
An explicitly defined continuous perimeter that establishes the physical
bounds of a cryptographic module and contains all hardware, software,
and/or firmware components of a cryptographic module.
See Hash function.
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