The process of converting information or data into a code, particularly to prevent unauthorized access.
Deeper dive
Encryption is an important privacy tool for sending sensitive, confidential or personal information via the internet. It scrambles readable text into an unreadable format. When the intended recipient accesses the message, the information is translated back to its original form, a process called decryption. Encryption is becoming increasingly important to protect health information in a world where hackers are going after hospitals.