(1) Text that contains no formatting. See text e-mail.
(2) Text that has not been encrypted. Also called "cleartext," plaintext is readable by any text editor such as Notepad and word processors that import ASCII text (almost all do). Contrast with "ciphertext," which is text that has been encrypted. See cryptography.
Plaintext Becomes Ciphertext
In this secret key example, the XOR operator is used to turn plaintext into ciphertext and then back to plaintext again. In practice, XOR is not used quite as simply as this. It is used in combination with different techniques and other ciphers to provide the complete encryption algorithm.
(2) Text that has not been encrypted. Also called "cleartext," plaintext is readable by any text editor such as Notepad and word processors that import ASCII text (almost all do). Contrast with "ciphertext," which is text that has been encrypted. See cryptography.
Plaintext Becomes Ciphertext
In this secret key example, the XOR operator is used to turn plaintext into ciphertext and then back to plaintext again. In practice, XOR is not used quite as simply as this. It is used in combination with different techniques and other ciphers to provide the complete encryption algorithm.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Turbine 3.0 (Windows)
- The plaintext bytes are XOR combined with a pseudorandom cipher bit stream and transformed by a block cipher with variable block-lengths. Salted hash. The suffix is freely selectable. Depends on this, nobody can see later directly that the Target file is an encrypted one. Optional to a manually key you...
- Software downloads 2009-11-10
- SuperMailer 5.0.0.0938 (Windows)
- This software can send personalized serial mails (for newsletters, marketing campaigns) as plaintext or HTML with WYSIWYG editor with attachments using up to 10 threads simultaneous. It is managing the recipients of the message, the e-mail content, and the attachments as projects so you can reuse it. It uses a...
- Software downloads 2009-10-18
- wodSFTP.NET 3.3.7 (Windows)
- The Secure File Transfer Protocol will provide secure file transfer functionality over any reliable data stream, SSH in this case. It is the standard file transfer protocol for use with the SSH2 protocol. wodSFTP.NET is a (.net) implementation of client side of this protocol which is reliable and easy to...
- Software downloads 2009-10-01
- wodSFTPdll 3.4.1 (Windows)
- wodSFTPdll offers secure file transfer functionality over any reliable data stream. It is the standard file transfer protocol for use with the SSH2 protocol. wodSFTPdll library implements client side of this protocol which is reliable and easy to use. SFTP protocol is designed to provide primarily file transfer, but also...
- Software downloads 2009-09-19
- Shopping Aid Lite 1.5 (Mobile)
- With Shopping Aid Lite keep track of what you need to buy at the store. It features keeps track of how much you are spending, calculates taxes, organize easily by category, attach one of over 50 included images to an item, browse mode in addition to a list mode to...
- Software downloads 2009-08-19
- wodSFTPdll 3.3.3 (Windows)
- wodSFTPdll offers secure file transfer functionality over any reliable data stream. It is the standard file transfer protocol for use with the SSH2 protocol. wodSFTPdll library implements client side of this protocol which is reliable and easy to use. SFTP protocol is designed to provide primarily file transfer, but also...
- Software downloads 2009-07-14
- WodSFTP ActiveX Component 3.3.3 (Windows)
- The Secure File Transfer Protocol SFTP client will provide secure file transfer functionality over any reliable data stream, SSH in this case. This is the standard file transfer protocol to be used with the SSH2 protocol. Windowless wodSFTP component implements client side of this protocol, which is reliable and easy...
- Software downloads 2009-07-14
- uNoteX 3.2.3 (Mac)
- Structured notepad with a window like Mail.app. PlainText note with single font. RichText note with images, links and mulitple fonts. Outline note with a check box. Web archive note with browsing Internet. Make a new note with a selection Import notes by separating with a pattern. Filtering a note by...
- Software downloads 2009-06-22
- Plain Text (Java) 2.0 (Windows)
- PlainText is a Java graphical GUI application to convert Unicode characters to plain text characters, for example, to convert left and right quotation marks into plain quotes for web pages. Since everyone has a different idea about what "plain text" means, the conversion is controlled by a configuration file that...
- Software downloads 2009-04-24
- ImageLister 1.0.14 (Mac)
- Simple: Drop Indesign layout files on ImageLister get a report back. Customize data: Image file path, image size on page, parent document page number, any IPTC field (byline, source, caption...), and more. Filter out images: By file path, file name, file type, containing folder, IPTC text and more....
- Software downloads 2009-03-02
- Top 25 coding defects listed, surprising nobody with a clue
- Top 25 coding defects listed, surprising nobody with a clueA list . . .Humm, it did a little digging to find the actual list, but I think this is it:http://cwe.mitre.org/top25/#CWE-20So, a list and some advice:The first broad category is interaction between components. Basically, it means you forgot to filter stuff...
- Discussion threads 2009-01-13
- Cavendish Education 3.0 (Mac)
- Cavendish Education is an easy-to-use program that solves the n-body problem. It accurately simulates gravitational interactions between an arbitrary number of objects. (For clarity, dynamics are restricted to the plane). You can create systems in Cavendish's intuitive graphical interface or write systems in Cavendish's scripting language - all saved files...
- Software downloads 2009-01-03
- Obama faces BlackBerry withdrawal
- Obama faces BlackBerry withdrawalNo one will careBecause he is The One, the press will never flame him if he happens to stray.With a Republican, it would be a "serious breach of national security" don't you know.Think I'm joking? Watch.RE: Obama faces BlackBerry withdrawalFollow Obama on Line Spout. http://www.linespout.com?q=obamaRE:...
- Discussion threads 2008-11-15
- Read It Later 0.992 (Windows)
- This Firefox extension allows you to save pages of interest to read later. It eliminates cluttering of bookmarks with sites that are merely of a one-time interest. Version 0.992 includes Firefox 3.1b compatibility, full Ubuntu support, option to control how click-to-save checkmarks appear, option to hide the plaintext password inside...
- Software downloads 2008-10-31
- uTorrent silently patches critical vulnerability
- uTorrent silently patches critical vulnerabilityWow, 2 years old?And this is the first anyone is hearing about it. The first time I am personally hearing about it, anyway. I expect if this flaw was being exploited, then there would have been a patch much sooner.1.8 final is already out.Btw, 1.8 final...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-19
- HSBC loses data on 370,000 customers; violates security standards
- HSBC loses data on 370,000 customers; violates security standardsHSBC Has A Lot To LearnCripes, what a pack of idiots!Some folks really should loose their jobs over this one not to mention maybe some civil action along with the company being held totally responcible and held accountable. Also I would recommend...
- Discussion threads 2008-04-08
- Brute Force Uninstaller 1.11 (Windows)
- Brute Force Uninstaller - a scripting program that can execute a series of preset commands like a Windows batch file, aimed at uninstalling programs that are hard to remove, uninstall improperly or simply unwanted. Scripts are plaintext and can be written with Notepad, and the command syntax is very transparent....
- Software downloads 2008-02-20
- OS X Rootkit Hunter 0.2 (Mac)
- OS X Rootkit Hunter is based on Michael Boelen`s "rootkit hunter" but little modified for easier/better usability on Mac OS X. OS X Rootkit Hunter is scanning tool to detect nasty tools on your Mac. This tool scans for rootkits, backdoors and local exploits by running tests like:...
- Software downloads 2008-01-11
- Apple delivers hefty patch haul; Addresses Leopard flaws and Safari
- Apple on Monday delivered another 41 patches to address multiple vulnerabilities in Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server including more than a few for Leopard. The security update, which matches last month's patch crop from Apple, features a few common threads. Among them: ...
- Blog posts 2007-12-17
- FrameSeer 1.8 (Mac)
- FrameSeer is a native ("Cocoa") application for capturing, decoding and analyzing network traffic on Mac OS X. FrameSeer is released as a universal binary and currently supports Ethernet, AirPort, PPPoE, PPP and loopback interfaces, and uses the System Configuration Framework to continuously monitor and report on physical network interface state....
- Software downloads 2007-12-13
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