The History of Cryptology
The concept of "security" covers a wide range of interests of both individuals and entire nations. In present days, a prominent place is given to the issue of information security, the protection of confidential business information from various rival groups.
The importance of keeping information in secret was already known since ancient times. With the advent of writing, there was the danger of reading it by undesirable persons. There were three main ways to protect information. One of them is supposed to protect it by forceful methods: The secret information (documents) was protected by the responsible persons. The second method is called "steganography" (this is a Latin-Greek combination of words that means the "secret writing"). It consisted in concealing the fact of availability of information. For example, the so-called invisible ink was used. After the appropriate manipulations (for example, heating), the text becomes visible.
The third way to protect information is to transform the meaning of the text in a set of random characters (or letters of the alphabet). The recipient of the information was able to convert it to the meaningful message, if he possessed the key to its construction. This method is called a cryptographic protection of information. Cryptography is a Greek word and means "secret writing" (Kundu 204). According to some experts, the age of cryptography is approximately the same as the Egyptian pyramids. In the documents of ancient civilizations of India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, there is information about the systems and methods of preparation of encrypted letters. The most complete and reliable information about the ciphers has come from ancient Greece.
The basic concept of cryptography is a code or a cipher. The secret cipher element is inaccessible to outsiders. It is called the cipher key. As a rule, in ancient times, the so-called substitution ciphers and transposition ciphers were used. A historical example of the replacement cipher is the Caesar cipher (1st century BC), described by Suetonius, the historian of ancient Rome. Julius Caesar used in his correspondence a cipher of his own invention. Applying to the modern English, it consisted of the following. Write out the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, ,; then in the place below, write out the same alphabet, but with a shift to the left by 3 letters ("The Black Chamber - Caesar Cipher"). Thus, it can be argued that the cryptology foundations were laid in ancient times. After centuries of development, cryptology is widely used in modern life.
Cryptology in Modern World
Throughout its long history until very recent times, the art of cryptology was known to a relatively small part of the society (government, security and secret services). Only a few decades ago, everything has changed radically - the information has acquired its independent commercial value and became widespread and almost usual good. In our times, the information is produced, stored, transported, sold and bought. Hence, it also can be stolen and falsified. Therefore, it must be protected. The relationship of society and information is increasingly becoming more and more tight, the success of any kind of activity is more strongly dependent on the possession of certain information. The more pronounced is this effect, the greater is the potential damage from abuse in the field of information and the greater is the need to protect the information.
Cryptographic techniques occupy a special place among the entire spectrum of data protection methods from unauthorized access. Unlike other methods, they rely only on the properties of the information and its properties do not use physical media, its processing units, transfer and storage. Figuratively speaking, cryptographic methods build a barrier between the protected information and the actual or potential intruder and this barrier is built from the information itself. Of course, a cryptographic protection primarily means encryption. Previously, this operation is performed manually or by a person using a variety of devices. Therefore cryptology development was hampered by the problem of implementation of the cipher.
Why the problem of the use of cryptographic techniques in information systems has currently become the one of the most important problems? On the one hand, the use of the computer networks has increased - in particular, in global network located at Internet that carry large amounts of information of the state, military, commercial and private nature, which should be inaccessible to unauthorized persons. On the other hand, the development of new powerful computers, technology and neural network computing has made it possible to discredit the protection efficiency of cryptographic systems.
Conclusion
The selected set of cryptographical methods should combine convenience, flexibility, efficiency of use and protection against hackers that may capture the information circulating in the information system. Information security, including cryptographic methods, is quite a complex area of human activity. A mistake made at the stage of development or inaccuracy of operating actions of personnel can lead to very negative consequences, reflected not only in the form of financial losses, but also (which is more serious) in the loss of customer confidence.
Works Cited
Kundu, Sudakshina. Fundamentals Of Computer Networks. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India, 2005. Print.
"The Black Chamber - Caesar Cipher". Simonsingh.net. N.p., 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
