What term describes the act of modifying data to ensure confidentiality?

The term that best describes the act of modifying data to ensure confidentiality is data encryption. This process involves converting plaintext data into a coded format, known as ciphertext, using specific algorithms and keys. The main purpose of encryption is to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access, ensuring that even if the data is intercepted or accessed by malicious actors, it remains unreadable without the decryption key.

This method is widely used in various applications such as secure communications, data storage, and internet transactions, where it's crucial to keep information private and secure from potential breaches. The use of strong encryption standards can significantly enhance data security and ensure compliance with various regulations focusing on data protection and privacy.

While other options like data scrambling, data masking, and data obfuscation do alter data to some degree with the intent of protecting it, they do not specifically define the process of encrypting data for confidentiality. Data masking usually involves hiding or replacing specific data elements, while data scrambling rearranges data in a way that obscures its original meaning. Data obfuscation makes data confusing or unclear, but it does not provide the same level of protection and security as encryption does.