Acronyms

In cryptography, I find that there are far too many acronyms, most of which I don't understand. I have attempted to put together a guide of all the acronyms, like a dictionary of sorts.

Core Crypto Primitives

AES

Advanced Encryption Standard; a widely used block cipher.

RSA

Rivest–Shamir–Adleman; a public-key cryptosystem based on integer factorization.

ECC

Elliptic Curve Cryptography; public-key cryptography built on elliptic curves.

ECDSA

Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm; a digital signature scheme based on ECC.

SHA

Secure Hash Algorithm; a family of cryptographic hash functions.

HMAC

Hash-based Message Authentication Code; a keyed hash used for integrity and authenticity.

IV

Initialization Vector; random or pseudorandom data used to ensure different encryptions of the same message do not look the same.

KDF

Key Derivation Function; derives one or more secret keys from a master secret or password.

PBKDF2

Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2; commonly used to derive keys from passwords.

Protocols & Security

PKI

Public Key Infrastructure; the framework for issuing, storing, and validating public-key certificates.

TLS

Transport Layer Security; a protocol that secures communications over a network.

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer; the older predecessor to TLS.

MAC

Message Authentication Code; a tag used to verify both integrity and authenticity.

AEAD

Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data; a mode that provides both confidentiality and authenticity.

OTP

One-Time Pad; a theoretically perfect encryption scheme when used correctly.

PRF

Pseudorandom Function; a keyed function that behaves like a random function to an adversary.

PRG

Pseudorandom Generator; expands a short random seed into a longer pseudorandom string.

Advanced / Theory

ZK

Zero-Knowledge; a proof system where a verifier learns only that the statement is true, not the witness.

ZKP

Zero-Knowledge Proof; a cryptographic proof that demonstrates knowledge without revealing it.

FHE

Fully Homomorphic Encryption; allows computation on encrypted data without decrypting it.

MPC

Multi-Party Computation; protocols that allow multiple parties to compute a function jointly while keeping inputs private.

OWF

One-Way Function; easy to compute in one direction, hard to invert.

CPA

Chosen-Plaintext Attack; an adversary can choose plaintexts and see their encryptions.

CCA

Chosen-Ciphertext Attack; an adversary can obtain decryptions of chosen ciphertexts.