CompTIA ITF+ Practice Test

The primary purpose of using encryption is to convert data into a format that is unreadable without a key. This process ensures the confidentiality and security of sensitive information, protecting it from unauthorized access. When data is encrypted, it is transformed into a ciphered format that can only be decrypted back to its original form by someone who possesses the correct decryption key. This is crucial for maintaining privacy in various contexts, including online communications, financial transactions, and data storage.

In contrast, the other choices do not align with the fundamental purpose of encryption. For example, while increasing data access speed is a concern for data management, it is not a function of encryption. Creating backups is related to data recovery and redundancy, not securing the data during transmission or storage. Lastly, data compression focuses on reducing file size for efficient storage rather than securing the content of the data, which is distinctly different from encryption's role in protecting information from unauthorized access.