Conquer the 2026 CISSP Challenge – Master Your InfoSec Skills with Confidence!

Cryptography is fundamentally the science and practice of ensuring that messages are kept secure and private by transforming them into formats that are not easily understood by anyone who does not possess the appropriate key to decipher them. This transformation effectively conceals the meaning of the original message, which is why the correct answer focuses on the aspect of making meanings hidden.

The practice of cryptography includes a variety of techniques for encryption and decryption, facilitating secure communication across potentially insecure channels. By encoding information, cryptography protects it from unauthorized access and alters the readability of the message so that even if it is intercepted, its content remains confidential.

While other options touch on aspects related to data handling or securing information, they do not fully encapsulate the primary goal of cryptography, which is to obscure the content of messages. Thus, the emphasis on the creation of hidden meanings aligns seamlessly with the fundamental purpose of cryptography.