Cryptography is the science of making information secure in the presence of adversaries. It does so under the assumption that limitless resources are available to adversaries. Ciphers are algorithms used to encrypt or decrypt data, so that if intercepted by an adversary, the data is meaningless to them without decryption, which requires a secret key.
Cryptography is primarily used to provide a confidentiality service. On its own, it cannot be considered a complete solution, rather it serves as a crucial building block within a more extensive security system to address a security problem. For example, securing a blockchain ecosystem requires many different cryptographic primitives, such as hash functions, symmetric key cryptography, digital signatures, and public key cryptography.
In addition to a confidentiality service, cryptography also provides other security services such as integrity, authentication (entity authentication and data origin authentication), and non-repudiation...