How can we transmit information in such a way that only authorised persons can understand it? How can we be sure that the information we transmit reaches its destination without being altered? Moreover, how can we be sure of the origin of a message, and so trust its content? In this chapter we shall deal with these problems. We shall first examine the earliest classic cryptographic methods, rapidly outlining their development along the centuries, and then we shall discuss the most recent research about public key cryptography. For further details about the history and development of cryptography, the reader can have a look at the good popular scientific book [58].
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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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(2009). Secrets… and lies. In: Elementary Number Theory, Cryptography and Codes. Universitext. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69200-3_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69200-3_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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