Which term describes a system of encoding electronic data so that only authorized individuals can retrieve and decode it?

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Encryption is the process of encoding electronic data so that only someone with the proper decryption key can convert it back to readable form. This protects confidentiality so patient information, whether stored on devices or transmitted online, isn’t accessible to unauthorized users. Encryption can use symmetric keys (the same key to encrypt and decrypt) or asymmetric keys (a public key to encrypt and a private key to decrypt). It directly addresses who can retrieve and decode the data, making it the right term for describing secure, access-controlled data.

Other concepts describe different security or technical functions. A firewall controls network traffic and blocks unauthorized access at the boundary rather than encoding the data itself. Frame rate concerns the speed of video frames and has no bearing on data confidentiality. E-prescribing relates to sending prescriptions electronically and may involve security practices, but it isn’t the encoding system that protects data.