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Definition: Cryptography from Dictionary of Information Science and Technology

a study of making a message secure through encryption; secret key and public key are the two major camps of cryptographic algorithms. In secret key cryptography, one key is used for both encryption and decryption, while in public key cryptography, two keys (public and private) are used. (Chen, 2009e)

cryptography

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(krĭptŏg'rӘfē) [Gr.,=hidden writing], science of secret writing. There are many devices by which a message can be concealed from the casual reader, e.g., invisible writing, but the term cryptography strictly applies to translating messages into cipher or code. The science of breaking codes and ciphers without a key is called cryptanalysis. Cryptology is the science that embraces both cryptography and cryptanalysis. In enciphering, each letter of the message is replaced by another letter or figure; in encoding, syllables, words, or whole sentences are treated. The code is the agreed upon set of rules whereby messages are converted from one form to another. The beginnings of cryptography can be traced to the hieroglyphs of early Egyptian civilization (c.1900 B.C. ). Ciphering has always been considered vital for diplomatic and military secrecy; the Bible is replete with examples of ciphering, and many figures throughout history have written in ciphers, including Julius Caesar, …
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Full text Article cryptography

From Encyclopedia of Intelligence & Counterintelligence
Ever since the dawn of writing, there have been attempts to conceal the meaning of what has been written from prying eyes. Yet, at the same time, the written message must be readable by the person for whom it is intended. During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon's Marshal Louis Berthier sent a message…
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Full text Article cryptography

From Philip's Encyclopedia
Form of written message in which the original text (plaintext) is replaced by a series of other signs according to a prearranged system, in order to keep the message confidential. Unlike a code , in which each letter of the plaintext is replaced by another sign, a cipher cannot be 'cracked' without…
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Full text Article cryptography

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(krĭptŏg'rӘfē) [Gr.,=hidden writing], science of secret writing. There are many devices by which a message can be concealed from the casual reader, e.g., invisible writing, but the term cryptography strictly applies to translating messages into cipher or code. The science of breaking codes and…
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Full text Article cryptography

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Science of creating and reading codes, for example, those produced by the German Enigma machine used in World War II, those used in the secure transmission of credit card details over the Internet, and those used to ensure the privacy of e-mail messages. Unencoded text (known as plaintext) is…
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Full text Article CRYPTOGRAPHY

From Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity
Cryptography, from the Greek words κρυπτειν (‘to hide’) and γραϕη (‘writing’), is when a writer contrives to conceal in a text certain thoughts and words to which he attaches particular importance. His motive may be the practical one of hiding those thoughts from the uninitiated, but it may also…
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Full text Article Cryptography

From The Harvard Dictionary of Music
In music, the use of music or musical notation to convey an extramusical idea or message. The simplest and most common method entails the use of the letter names of pitches to spell a word or abbreviation. B-A-C-H is perhaps the single most widely known example; Schumann's Carnaval includes other…
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Full text Article public-key cryptography

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
System of cryptography that allows remote users to exchange encrypted data without the need to transmit a secret digital ‘key’ in advance. The system was first proposed by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman in a widely read and influential paper ‘New Directions in Cryptography’ (1976). Several…
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Full text Article Public Key Cryptography

From The Big Idea: How Breakthroughs of the Past Shape the Future Full text Article Information & Communication
Date: 1976 Invented in 1976 by Stanford University professor Martin Hellman and graduate student Whitfield Diffie, public key cryptography is a security technology that enables users, using an unsecured network (like the Internet), to transmit private data securely (like bank account numbers). Here…
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Full text Article Public key cryptography

From BCS Glossary of Computing and ICT
How a public key cryptosystem works
including: public key, private key, one-way functions, trapdoor functions, RSA algorithm is a very secure encryption method where different keys are used to encrypt and decrypt the data. The key has two parts, a public key and a private key , which form a matched pair. The public key and private key…
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Linear feedback shift register.
1 Introduction and History Cryptography is the science of hiding the meaning or content of communications. The aim is that an adversary who sees a message only in its enciphered state cannot make sense of or derive useful information from what is seen. On the other hand, the intended recipient must…
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