CompTIA Security+ Exam Prep

Answer: C - Cryptography is storing and transmitting data that can only be read by those who are intended to read it. It is considered a science of protecting information by encoding it in an unreadable format. One of the goals of cryptography and the mechanisms that make it up is to hide information from unauthorized individuals. However, with enough time, resources, and motivation, hackers can break most algorithms and reveal the encoded information. Cryptography closely follows advances in technology. Once computers were invented, encryption methods and designers increased dramatically. One of the first projects was Lucifer, which was developed by IBM. Lucifer introduced complex mathematical equations and foundations that were later adopted and modified by the U.S. National Security Agency to establish the U.S. Data Encryption Standard in 1976.