Word.ws English Dictionary

Kerckhoffs's principle

Kerckhoffs's principle proper noun: the idea that a cryptosystem should be designed to be secure even if everything about the system, except the secret key, is public knowledge.

Proper noun

Kerckhoffs's principle

  1. The idea that a cryptosystem should be designed to be secure even if everything about the system, except the secret key, is public knowledge.

Origin of Kerckhoffs's principle

Named after Auguste Kerckhoffs.

Questions about Kerckhoffs's principle

What does Kerckhoffs's principle mean?
Kerckhoffs's principle means the idea that a cryptosystem should be designed to be secure even if everything about the system, except the secret key, is public knowledge.
What part of speech is Kerckhoffs's principle?
Kerckhoffs's principle is a proper noun.

Words near Kerckhoffs's principle in the dictionary

  1. kerchunk
  2. kerchunker
  3. kerchunking
  4. kerchunks
  5. Kerckhoffs
  6. Kerckhoffs's principle
  7. Kerckring
  8. kere
  9. Kerebe
  10. kerectomy
  11. Keredhdhoo

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Kerckhoffs's principle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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