Selvätekstinä

Selvätekstinä is a Finnish term that translates to "in clear text" or "as plaintext". It refers to information that is not encrypted or encoded and can be read directly by anyone who has access to it. This is in contrast to encrypted or obfuscated data, which requires a specific key or process to be deciphered.

In computing and cybersecurity, selvätekstinä is often used to describe data that is transmitted or stored without any security measures. For example, sending a password in selvätekstinä over an insecure network would mean that anyone intercepting the communication could easily read the password. Similarly, storing sensitive information like credit card numbers in selvätekstinä in a database makes that information highly vulnerable to breaches.

The term is also used in a broader sense to mean something that is easily understood or straightforward. If instructions are given "selvätekstinä," it means they are clear, unambiguous, and require no special interpretation. This usage emphasizes the lack of complexity or hidden meanings.

Conversely, when data is not in selvätekstinä, it implies that some form of protection or transformation has been applied. This could range from simple character encoding to complex cryptographic algorithms. The decision to use selvätekstinä or a protected format depends entirely on the sensitivity of the information and the desired level of security.