The Future of Cryptography

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The Future of Cryptology By James Everidge IT Security: Attack & Defense (ISSC 362) Professor Christodonte March 11, 2012 What is cryptography, and what purpose does it serve? Cryptography operates on various algorithms in order to encrypt and decrypt data to prevent it falling into unintended hands. This operation of cryptography basically secures communications between parties so messages are only read by the intended party. An algorithm is basically a set of instructions that tell computers how to execute a program. According to Fran Howarth, there are two basic types of algorithms symmetric key cryptography and asymmetric key cryptography. Symmetric key cryptography is the type of system where the sender and receiver of secure messages use the same crypto key in order to send and receive the message. If the key fell into the wrong hands that person could decrypt the original message. Asymmetric key cryptography is a system where two different keys are used, but are mathematically related. (Howarth, 2010) Cryptography is the science of writing in secret code and is an ancient art; the first documented use of cryptography in writing dates back to circa 1900 B.C. when an Egyptian scribe used non-standard hieroglyphs in an inscription. (Kessler, 2012) Even a more famous example of Cryptography was the Enigma machine used by the German military was one of the more famous ones. This was an electro-mechanical, portable cipher machine. It was able to encrypt and decrypt messages. The Enigma machine was a combination of keys, plugs and rotors creating a complex mechanical machine. ("Modern uses of," 2011) The Enigma machine looked something like an old fashioned typewriter that encrypted and decrypted messages. Eventually this technology would be compromised when a mathematician from England would crack the code. The Navajo’s used their own language as a

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