cryptanalysis (from the greek "kryptós", "hidden", and "analýein", "to loosen" or "to untie") is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information which is normally required to do so. typically, this involves finding a secret key. in non-technical language, this is the practice of codebreaking or cracking the code, although "break" can also mean just a part of a complete solution.