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It is commonly accepted that this paper was the starting point for development of modern cryptography. Shannon was inspired during the war to address "[t]he problems of cryptography [because] secrecy systems furnish an interesting application of communication theory". Shannon identified the two main goals of cryptography: secrecy and authenticity.
Mathematically, a cryptosystem or encryption scheme can be defined as a tuple (,,,,) with the following properties.. is a set called the "plaintext space". Its elements are called plaintexts.; is a set called the "ciphertext space". Its elements are called ciphertexts.; is a set called the "key space". Its elements are called keys.; = {:} is a set of functions :. Its elements are called ...
In colloquial use, the term "code" is often used to mean any method of encryption or concealment of meaning. However, in cryptography, code has a more specific meaning: the replacement of a unit of plaintext (i.e., a meaningful word or phrase) with a code word (for example, "wallaby" replaces "attack at dawn"). A cypher, in contrast, is a ...
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".
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 and symmetric-key. [1]
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 ...
Information theoretic concepts apply to cryptography and cryptanalysis. Turing's information unit, the ban, was used in the Ultra project, breaking the German Enigma machine code and hastening the end of World War II in Europe. Shannon himself defined an important concept now called the unicity distance.
An alternative, less common term is encipherment. To encipher or encode is to convert information into cipher or code. In common parlance, "cipher" is synonymous with "code", as they are both a set of steps that encrypt a message; however, the concepts are distinct in cryptography, especially classical cryptography.