"clear-text" is a term commonly used in the security and cryptography communities to describe transmissions over networks that are not cryptographically altered or authenticated. This makes them extremely insecure and susceptible to viewing by a third-party. Some internet protocols are by design clear-text, such as telnet, FTP, and HTTP. Cryptographic variations of these protocols, such as SSH, sftp, and HTTPS, equal in functionality, exist to provide greater security.