Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Cryptography, or cryptology (from Ancient Greek: κρυπτός, romanized: kryptós "hidden, secret"; and γράφειν graphein, "to write", or -λογία-logia, "study", respectively [1]), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. [2]
Historically, various forms of encryption have been used to aid in cryptography. Early encryption techniques were often used in military messaging. Since then, new techniques have emerged and become commonplace in all areas of modern computing. [1] Modern encryption schemes use the concepts of public-key [2] and symmetric-key. [1]
Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is the field of cryptographic systems that use pairs of related keys. Each key pair consists of a public key and a corresponding private key . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Key pairs are generated with cryptographic algorithms based on mathematical problems termed one-way functions .
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to cryptography: Cryptography (or cryptology) – practice and study of hiding information. Modern cryptography intersects the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, and engineering. Applications of cryptography include ATM cards, computer passwords, and electronic ...
This concept is widely embraced by cryptographers, in contrast to security through obscurity, which is not. Kerckhoffs's principle was phrased by American mathematician Claude Shannon as "the enemy knows the system", [1] i.e., "one ought to design systems under the assumption that the enemy will immediately gain full familiarity with them".
Key generation is the process of generating keys in cryptography. A key is used to encrypt and decrypt whatever data is being encrypted/decrypted. A device or program used to generate keys is called a key generator or keygen.
However, as technology advances, so does the quality of encryption. Since World War II, one of the most notable advances in the study of cryptography is the introduction of the asymmetric key cyphers (sometimes termed public-key cyphers). These are algorithms which use two mathematically related keys for encryption of the same message.
These concepts are also important in the design of cryptographic hash functions, and pseudorandom number generators, where decorrelation of the generated values is the main feature. Diffusion (and its avalanche effect ) is also applicable to non-cryptographic hash functions .