cryptographic protection
163688·updated Oct 5, 2026A category of security control — specifically, the application of cryptographic mechanisms (such as encryption, hashing, message authentication codes, or digital signatures) to enforce one or more security properties — confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation — for data at rest, in transit, or in backup. Cryptography can provide several security services: confidentiality, identity authentication, data integrity authentication, source authentication, and support for non-repudiation. In standards practice, the expression names a named control enhancement: NIST SP 800-53 uses "Cryptographic Protection" as an enhancement under System and Communications Protection, requiring that information systems implement cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure and modification of defined information on defined system components. The field applies it broadly across contexts — covering transmission confidentiality and integrity, backup information, and storage — wherever cryptographic mechanisms are the chosen means of enforcing a security requirement, with the specific operation depending on the algorithm: encrypting or signing data, generating a hash or MAC, or establishing keys.
Source
Cryptographicthe sentence this term was read in
generalized from a web lookup of the quoted expression at proposal time Verdict: term of art.
- NIST.SP.800-175Br1.pdf
- SC-28(1): Cryptographic Protection - CSF Tools
- SC-8(1): Cryptographic Protection - CSF Tools
- CP-9(8): Cryptographic Protection
- apply cryptographic protection
A definition generalized from search results is a draft to react to, not provenance. Confirm it against an authority document before this term is verified.
A web lookup ran when this term was proposed
A category of security control — specifically, the application of cryptographic mechanisms (such as encryption, hashing, message authentication codes, or digital signatures) to enforce one or more security properties — confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation — for data at rest, in transit, or in backup. Cryptography can provide several security services: confidentiality, identity authentication, data integrity authentication, source authentication, and support for non-repudiation. In standards practice, the expression names a named control enhancement: NIST SP 800-53 uses "Cryptographic Protection" as an enhancement under System and Communications Protection, requiring that information systems implement cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure and modification of defined information on defined system components. The field applies it broadly across contexts — covering transmission confidentiality and integrity, backup information, and storage — wherever cryptographic mechanisms are the chosen means of enforcing a security requirement, with the specific operation depending on the algorithm: encrypting or signing data, generating a hash or MAC, or establishing keys.
Advisory only. A term this product ships is defined by an authority document, not by a search result.
Proposed during multiword review of this document in the CKI mapping queue.
Attested in
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- plural
- cryptographic protections
- possessive
- cryptographic protection's
- pluralpossessive
- cryptographic protections'
Framework definitions
- §1 · attested_usage_reviewer_confirmed
- No definition is given in NIST SP 800-171r3. The term is attested in use at 2 citations in that document; a definition is pending curation.Increment 2: attested in NIST SP 800-171r3 without a glossary definition.
- §1 · web_lookup_draft
- A category of security control — specifically, the application of cryptographic mechanisms (such as encryption, hashing, message authentication codes, or digital signatures) to enforce one or more security properties — confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation — for data at rest, in transit, or in backup. Cryptography can provide several security services: confidentiality, identity authentication, data integrity authentication, source authentication, and support for non-repudiation. In standards practice, the expression names a named control enhancement: NIST SP 800-53 uses "Cryptographic Protection" as an enhancement under System and Communications Protection, requiring that information systems implement cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure and modification of defined information on defined system components. The field applies it broadly across contexts — covering transmission confidentiality and integrity, backup information, and storage — wherever cryptographic mechanisms are the chosen means of enforcing a security requirement, with the specific operation depending on the algorithm: encrypting or signing data, generating a hash or MAC, or establishing keys.Drafted by the propose-term web lookup (PD-018); a curator confirms or replaces it.