This document summarizes the key components of encryption and decryption algorithms:
1. Plaintext is the initial intelligible message that is input into the encryption algorithm. The encryption algorithm performs substitutions and transformations on the plaintext using a secret key.
2. The secret key is independently input along with the plaintext and determines the exact substitutions and transformations performed, resulting in different ciphertext outputs for the same plaintext with different keys.
3. Ciphertext is the encrypted output that is unintelligible without the key. Decryption runs the encryption algorithm in reverse, using the ciphertext and key to recover the original plaintext.
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