-
1900 BCE
Monumental Hieroglyphs of the Old Kingdom of Egypt
Little is known about this earliest recorded attempt at encipherment. It was probably meant to be a form of entertainment or experiment. -
Period: 1900 BCE to
Cryptography then and now
The evolution of cryptography from the ancient world to present day technologies. -
1500 BCE
Mesopotamian Secrets of Pottery
A Babylonian cuneiform tablet, dating from about 1500 BC, contains an encrypted recipe for making pottery glaze. (Tattersal, |210|, 1999). This example more likely represents the occurrence of ciphers in this part of the world as this example would be fairly trivial. James J. Tattersall. Elementary Number Theory in Nine Chapters. Cambridge University Press. (|210|, 1999). ISBN: 0521585317 -
Dec 24, 800
Al-Kindi, "The Philosopher of the Arabs"
Al-Kindi is regarded by many to be "The Philosopher of the Arabs". This title had been well earned as he was able to translate many Greek writings into arabic. This paved the way for a greater understanding of sciences used by the Greeks. Al-Kindi, Cryptography, Code Breaking and Ciphers. Tariq Al-Tayeb.
Web. http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/al-kindi-cryptography-code-breaking-and-ciphers#note_1. Accessed 06/13/2016 -
Dec 24, 1467
Leon Battista Alberti, "The Father of Western Cryptography"
Leon Battista Alberti was known in his time for many great Scientific and engineering feats. One of his greatest accomplishments is being recognized as the inventor of the Cipher Wheel. Being circular, the wheel made both encryption decryption much simpler and faster in a time where standard tables would take a great deal of time. -
The Babington Plot
In an attempt to bring England back to Catholisism, Anthony Babington wrote letters that he personally encrypted using a cipher, to Mary Queen of Scots whom he hoped would take the crown away from the then Queen of England, Elizabeth. This failed Coup reignited the use of cryptography which has been silent for many years prior. -
Vigenère’s autokey cipher and the weaker Vigenère cipher
In an effort to help the British gain an advantage during the Crimean war, inventor, Charles Babbage created a machine able to break the Vigenere's Autokey Cipher. This has previously proved to be impossible to crack and was used by the enemy to gain advantage over Briton. -
The Vernam Cipher
Gilbert Vernam invented the teleprinter cipher, which used a key on paper tape to be added with regular words to encrypt phrases. Praised by the NSA as one of the greatest inventions in cryptology, the Vernam Cipher is known as the world's first unbreakable cipher. -
The Enigma Rotor Machine
The Enigma rotor machine, is a cipher machine used by the German Army. It was created by Arthur Scherbius. The Enigma Machine would later be used to allow secure communication between Nazi German Government and it's U-boats that would go on to cause a great blow to allied forces in WW2. -
Edgar Allan Poe Cracks the Code!
Unknown to many, Edgar Allen Poe, who was previously only known for his dark poetry, aided the British in WW1 with the decryption of intercepted encrypted messages from Germany. He went on to be recognized in the world of cryptography as a genius in decryption. -
WW2 Japanese Navy Cryptography
Shortly after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into war with the Empire, they controlled the Pacific with a very dominant and overwhelming armada. The United States was not prepared to fight a sea war in the Pacific and had to scramble. During one of the most pivital battles of the Pacific war, the United States Navy was able to intercept Japanese orders to it's fleet and decrypt them. Many believe this turned the tide of the war. -
The Colossus Computer
Two English inventors, Max Newman and engineer Tommy Flowers, created the world’s first digital electronic computer, Colossus. It's sole pupose at the time was to aid Britain’s cryptanalysis of German messages during WW2. This computer proved to be a huge success in cracking messages sent back and forth from Berlin to it's assets throughout Europe. -
The VIC Cipher
The VIC cipher, used by Soviet spy Reino Häyhänen, was known at the time as the most complex pen-and-paper cipher. Häyhänen famously used the VIC cipher on a rolled up piece of paper hidden inside a hollowed out US nickel to relay messages to other Russian spies within the US. He later defected to the US and helped the FBI in deciphering this encryption technique. VIC cipher, Crypto-IT. (2015)
Web. http://www.crypto-it.net/eng/simple/vic.html?tab=0 accessed 06/13/2016 -
The Data Encryption Standard
The Data Encryption Standard (DES) is a symmetric-key block cipher published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
The National Institute of Standards wanted to come up with an industry wide standard of encryption that could be used by all US agencies. They called this standard the Data Encryption Standard and it would stay that way until AES was created. -
Diffie-Hellman key exchange
Diffie-Hellman key exchange, also called exponential key exchange, is a method of digital encryption that uses numbers raised to specific powers to produce decryption keys on the basis of components that are never directly transmitted, making the task of a would-be code breaker mathematically overwhelming. Diffie-Hellman key exchange (exponential key exchange). SearchSecurity. (M. Rouse, 2007).
Web. http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/Diffie-Hellman-key-exchange. Acc. 06/13/2016 -
Pretty Good Privacy
Created by Phil Zimmermann, PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), is a state-of-the-art cryptography system. It is a very widely used program that encrypts and decrypt emails over the Internet. It can also authenticate messages with digital signatures. -
Advanced Encryption Standard
AES or Advanced Encryption Standards was a new method of cryptography that utilizes an encryption algorithm created by two Belgian Cryptographers, Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen. It specifically increased the block size of key lengths from older methods like DES. This allowed for a high increase in secure encryption that is still used today. AES Encryption. AES Encryption. (2015)
Web. http://aesencryption.net Accessed 06/13/2016
