Cloud cryptography involves the encryption of data stored or used in a cloud service. Through encryption, data transmitted in plaintext is protected by being transformed into a random string of characters called ciphertext. The encryption is performed using secure keys that are necessary to decrypt the data into human-readable form. While the information is encrypted, it is kept secure from access by unauthorized users or cybercriminals. 

Public cloud providers are required to securely handle and protect their customer’s data. Two related concepts employed to ensure this data security are cryptography and encryption. Various implementations of these concepts have been used throughout the history of computing. Their use is critical in efforts to protect an enterprise’s sensitive data in a public cloud environment.