What does the term "decoding" refer to?

Decoding refers to the process of converting encoded data, such as cipher text, back into its original, readable format, which is often referred to as plain text. This is a fundamental concept in cryptography where data is transformed into a secure format to protect it from unauthorized access. When information is encrypted, it is altered in such a way that only those with the appropriate key can revert it back to its readable state. Hence, decoding is essential for accessing the original information that has been kept confidential through encryption techniques.

In this context, the other choices do not accurately describe decoding. Encryption involves the securing of data (the act of securing data with encryption), which is the process that precedes decoding. Validating data integrity, while important in ensuring that the data remains unaltered, does not relate to the transformation of coded text back into its original form. Additionally, scrambling data is a different concept associated more with noise or transformation applied for the sake of obscuring information, rather than correctly interpreting encoded data as decoding does. Thus, the definition of decoding aligns perfectly with converting cipher text back to plain text.