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Introduction: A Revolutionary Cipher

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A Brief History of Cryptology and Cryptographic Algorithms

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Abstract

Cryptology is the science of secret writing. It is made up of two halves; cryptography consists of the techniques for creating systems of secret writing and cryptanalysis encompasses the techniques of breaking them. Over the past 2,500 years, cryptology has developed numerous types of systems to hide messages and subsequently a rich vocabulary in which to describe them. In this chapter we introduce the reader to the vocabulary of cryptology, explain the differences between codes and ciphers and begin the discussion of how to decipher an unknown message.

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References

  1. Freeman, Douglas Southall. 1951. George Washington: Planter and patriot. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

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  2. Kahn, David. 1967. The codebreakers: The story of secret writing. New York: Macmillan.

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Correspondence to John F. Dooley .

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Dooley, J.F. (2013). Introduction: A Revolutionary Cipher. In: A Brief History of Cryptology and Cryptographic Algorithms. SpringerBriefs in Computer Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01628-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01628-3_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-01627-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-01628-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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