Term Paper on "Cryptography History"

Term Paper 5 pages (1446 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Cryptography

History of Cryptography

The history of cryptography dates as far back in the Egyptian times. Cryptography is a means of concealing or hiding true information in forms that are incomprehensible to others. An Egyptian scribe made use of this by converting hieroglyphic standards in other form of scribbles to secretly communicate.

The main purpose of cryptography is to maintain confidentiality of information. Within its history, the cryptographic styles have developed from simple forms of conversion into complex methods that we have today. Simple conversion includes rearranging of letters (i.e. ephl = help), or replacing or shifting letters (i.e. fly = gmz). Some notable personalities who made use of these forms of cryptography includes Julius Ceasar who used a shift of 3 letters to communicate with his generals (Wikipedia Online), and Thomas Jefferson who developed a wheel cipher that was used by the U.S. Navy during the World War II (Herbert, 2001). Complex methods, on the other hand, are those that were the result of our modern technology such as data encryption, digital signatures, authentication of senders/receivers, public key cryptography, and secure computation among many others.

The World War I and II similarly have made use of cryptography in the battle field. The German's Enigma and the Japanese Purple machine are two of the famous machines used in the war (Herbert, 2001).

The introduction to the present day Data Encryption Standard (DES) was the "Feistal Ciphers," developed by Dr. Hoist Feistal in the late 1970s (Herbert, 2001). The Feistal

Ciphers was developed into DES by the National Security Agency which was thereafter improved by Xuejia Lai and James Massey into a stronger 128-bit cipher called IDEA or International Data Encryption Algorithm. One after another, many developments have transformed cryptography into complex forms being used in today's modern technology.

The Modern Cryptography

Today's cryptography features different methods that cater to particular need in concealing information. Following are two of the modern methods of cryptography.

Symmetric-Key Cryptography

This method of cryptography allows both the sender and the receiver have similar or common keys for encryption and decryption. Compared to other form of cryptography, symmetric-key is simpler and faster (Webopedia). However, this method requires secured process of exchanging keys by communicating parties. DES is a good example of symmetric-key cryptography.

Public-Key Cryptography

Unlike symmetric-key cryptography, communicating parties do not share keys. Instead, a pair of keys, public and private, is generated wherein the public key can be distributed freely but the private key must remain concealed. Basically, the purpose of the public key is to encrypt while the private key is to decrypt (Wikipedia). Webopedia has the following simple example of the use of public and private key.

When John wants to send a secure message to Jane, he uses Jane's public key to encrypt the message. Jane then uses her private key to decrypt it."

Elliptic Curve Cryptography

This type of cryptography is designed to cater greater security in the future and as an enhancement to the RSA and Diffie-Hellman public-key systems which make use of 1024-bit parameters. However, this parameter size is only presumed to be sufficient until 2010. The elliptic curve cryptography aims on increasing the parameter size that can cater to another decade of use.

Where Cyptography is Applied

Almost all of today's form of information technology that requires information security to maintain confidentiality makes use of cryptography as a security component. The different techniques of information security such as data authentication and digital signatures will not be efficient without the employment of cryptography where encryption and decryption of data are the main course of actions.

Cryptography is applied in many of the public and private systems where information travels across the World Wide Web. This includes systems of the different agencies of the government such as NASA and FBI, or commercial systems such as the e-commerce systems of various companies and organizations, or even systems of common and private individuals using the Internet.

Among the most common technology that makes use of cryptography are the credit card companies. Using credit cards online requires sufficient data security to ensure that the information necessary to enable a credit card owner (i.e. credit card number, personal information) make purchase or payment transactions online are authenticated and similarly secured from any information theft. In such need, cryptography plays an important role by encrypting real data… READ MORE

How to Reference "Cryptography History" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

History of Espionage Class Reading Essay

The chapter also circles back to the "Cambridge Five," and how even with Soviet spy Kim Philby placed so highly in the British Secret Service, the Soviet leader's inability to… read more

Essay 27 pages (7517 words) Sources: 29 Topic: World History

---

Worlds Renowned Cryptographers and Cryptanalysts Term Paper

Renowned Cryptographers and Cryptanalysts

Cryptography was a very important element in the results of both World War I and II. While it has been used for centuries for a variety… read more

Term Paper 4 pages (1187 words) Sources: 5 Topic: World History

---

Information Technology Refuting the Claims That Windows Thesis

Information Technology

Refuting the Claims That Windows-based systems are not as Secure

As Linux or Apple Mac systems

The evaluation of one operating systems' level of security relative to another… read more

Thesis 12 pages (3173 words) Sources: 8 Style: MLA Topic: Computers / IT / Internet

---

Literature in Popular Culture Edgar Allen Poe's the Gold Bug Book Report

Poe Gold Bug

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Gold-Bug" encapsulates the era of Romanticism in American literature. The short story boasts some of the thematic elements for which Poe is famous… read more

Book Report 7 pages (2160 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Mythology / Folklore / Science Fiction

---

Impact of Social Networking on Our Life Essay

Societal Impact of Internet-Based Digital Media

Background and History of Digital Technology

The Origins of Digital Technology

Although the history of mechanical computational tools dates back thousands of years and… read more

Essay 7 pages (1953 words) Sources: 6 Style: Harvard Topic: Computers / IT / Internet

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>