Which process involves securing data by encoding it?

The process that involves securing data by encoding it is known as encryption. This is a cryptographic method that transforms information into an unreadable format for unauthorized users, ensuring that only individuals with the correct decryption key can access the original content. Encryption safeguards sensitive information from unauthorized access and is crucial in protecting data both at rest and in transit.

Access control, while important for securing systems, specifically deals with determining who can access or use resources in a computing environment but does not inherently involve encoding data. A digital signature serves as a method for verifying the authenticity and integrity of a message or document, rather than encoding the data itself. Tokenization replaces sensitive data with non-sensitive tokens, providing a substitute that can be used without exposing the original data, but it is not the process of encoding data in the way encryption accomplishes.