home/glossary/secret key

secret key

nounid 3996·updated May 9, 2026
candidate

A cryptographic key that is used with a secret-key (symmetric) cryptographic algorithm that is uniquely associated with one or more entities and is not made public. The use of the term “secret” in this context does not imply a classification level, but rather implies the need to protect the key from disclosure.

polysemousMWE

Classifications

Entity Type

Credential95%llm-generatedllm:claude-haiku-4-5

Sensitivity

Restricted90%llm-generatedllm:claude-haiku-4-5

Information Class

Cui75%llm-generatedllm:claude-haiku-4-5

Variants

plural
secret keys
possessive
secret key's
pluralpossessive
secret keys'

Framework definitions

National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (NICCS) Cybersecurity Lexicon1 senseview framework →
§1 · extended_definition_available
A cryptographic key that is used for both encryption and decryption, enabling the operation of a symmetric key cryptography scheme.
NISTIR 7298: Glossary of Key Information Security Terms, Revision 24 sensesview framework →
§1
A cryptographic key that is used with a secret-key (symmetric) cryptographic algorithm that is uniquely associated with one or more entities and is not made public. The use of the term “secret” in this context does not imply a classification level, but rather implies the need to protect the key from disclosure.
§2 · sense_2_pending_review
A cryptographic key that must be protected from unauthorized disclosure to protect data encrypted with the key. The use of the term “secret” in this context does not imply a classification level; rather, the term implies the need to protect the key from disclosure or substitution.
§3 · sense_3_pending_review
A cryptographic key that is uniquely associated with one or more entities. The use of the term “secret” in this context does not imply a classification level, but rather implies the need to protect the key from disclosure or substitution.
§4 · sense_4_pending_review
A cryptographic key, used with a secret key cryptographic algorithm, that is uniquely associated with one or more entities and should not be made public.
CNSSI-4009 (Glossary of Information Assurance Terms)1 senseview framework →
§1
A cryptographic key that is used with a symmetric cryptographic algorithm that is uniquely associated with one or more entities and is not made public. The use of the term “secret” in this context does not imply a classification level, but rather implies the need to protect the key from disclosure.
FIPS PUB 140-21 senseview framework →
§1
A cryptographic key, used with a secret key cryptographic algorithm, that is uniquely associated with one or more entities and should not be made public.
FIPS PUB 2011 senseview framework →
§1
A cryptographic key that must be protected from unauthorized disclosure to protect data encrypted with the key. The use of the term “secret” in this context does not imply a classification level; rather, the term implies the need to protect the key from disclosure or substitution.
NIST SP 800-57 Part 11 senseview framework →
§1
A cryptographic key that is used with a secret-key (symmetric) cryptographic algorithm that is uniquely associated with one or more entities and is not made public. The use of the term “secret” in this context does not imply a classification level, but rather implies the need to protect the key from disclosure.
FIPS PUB 1981 senseview framework →
§1
A cryptographic key that is uniquely associated with one or more entities. The use of the term “secret” in this context does not imply a classification level, but rather implies the need to protect the key from disclosure or substitution.

Outgoing relationships

No outgoing triples
This term is not the subject of any RDF-style relationship yet.

Incoming relationships

related