Cyber Glossary
Cyberlaw dictionary is an alphabetical reference guide to technical and legal terms related to the Internet. The site you are now browsing contains over 500 definitions of words drawn from Standard Internet English including technical terms and their meanings. Our aim is to explain basic technical jargon of cyberspace to those who are not familiar with its jargon. We've given preference to terms that are widely used, like modem or bandwidth, and to those that describe new concepts specific to the Internet experience such as phishing or sexting.
Cryptographic algorithm
An encryption algorithm using a key (ie a binary number typically between 40 to 128 bits in length). The greater the number of bits (cipher strength) the more key combinations and the longer it takes to break the code. The data is encrypted or locked by mathematically combining the bits in the key with the data bits. At the receiving end the key is used to unlock the code and restore the original data.
