n. The process of obscuring information to make it unreadable without special knowledge, key files, and/or passwords. May also apply to electronic signal, hard drive, message, document...
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. the process of converting messages in ordinary language, or other information into a secret coded form that cannot be interpreted without knowing the secret method for interpretation, called the key.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. the activity of converting data or information into code
Word Usage
"In fact I will use the term encryption, where quantum information is transformed in ways that an observer who lack the appropriate “key” is unable to cypher."