A method and apparatus are provided to perform a cryptographic task on at least one numerical datum in an electronic hardware component. The method includes a step of at least partial use of an encryption function. This encryption function includes a basic encryption function obtained by the addition between an intermediate function arising from composition of a coding function with a first function, and a second function. This method can be applied to the encryption of a datum or to the decryption of a datum. Also, a method is provided for generating a public key and a device able to implement one of these methods.