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History of Cryptography
AN EASY TO UNDERSTAND HISTORY OF CRYPTOGRAPHY
Contents
Introduction
6
6
7
Modern Ciphers:
Ciphers during World War I and the Emergence of
Encryption Machines
8
German Communication Cables Disconnected by the United Kingdom 8
Zimmermann Telegram
8
ADFGVX Cipher
8
The Birth of Enigma
9
Modern Ciphers:
Encryptions in the Computer and Internet Era
DES Cipher
Public-Key Cryptosystem
RSA Cipher
Decrypting the DES Cipher
Responsive Action of Cipher Enhancements for SSL
10
10
10
11
12
12
13
Conclusion:
Enhancing the Effectiveness of Encryptions used for SSL
References
14
14
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1. Introduction
ncryption and related technologies are widely and frequently
used as a means of ensuring that information is secure, and
their importance has been growing with the increasingly wide-
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ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Plain text
characters (text that
has not been
SMKRATNGQJUDZLPVYOCWIBXFEH
characters
possible to ever read, but the discovery and study of the Rosetta
Stone in the 19th century was the catalyst that made it possible to
read hieroglyphics.
The scytale cipher was a form of encryption used in the city state
parchment strip was wrapped, and the text was written on the
parchment strip along the long axis of the cylinder. The method of
encryption was designed so that the recipient would be able to
read it by wrapping the parchment strip around a cylinder of the
same diameter.
Encryption methods like the scytale cipher that rely on rearranging the sequence in which characters are read are referred to as
transposition ciphers.
The Caesar cipher, which appeared in the 1st century B.C., was
so named because it was frequently used by Julius Caesar, and it
is a particularly prominent method of encryption among the great
number of encryption methods that emerged during the long history of encryption.
The Caesar cipher method of encryption involves replacing each
of the letters of the alphabet in the original text by a letter located
a set number of places further down the sequence of the letters in
the alphabet of the language. The sender and receiver agree in
advance to replace each letter of the alphabet in the text by a letter that is, for example, three letters further down in their alphabet.
advantage of the fact that only one letter can be substituted for
that depend on the letter substitution rule, e.g., the Caesar cipher,
original text:
The words any, and, the, are, of, if, is, it, and in
are very common.
O.14
O.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
encryption machine called Enigma described below made it possible to apply the substitution cipher method with a higher level of
O
a
sophistication.
letter
Figure 2
Figure 1
4
5
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Plain text
GOLDMEDALIST
Key
Encrypted message
OLYMPICOLYMP
UZJPBMFOWGEI
A
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
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M
N
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W
X
Y
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P
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V
W
X
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B
C
D
E
F
G
H
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D
E
F
G
H
D
E
F
G
H
F G H
F G H
G H
H
J
J K
J K L
K L M
L M N
M N O
N O P
O P Q
P Q R
Q R S
R S T
S T U
T U V
U V W
V W
X Y
W X
X Y Z
Y Z A
Z A B
A B C
B C D
C D E
D E F
E F G
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
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F
G
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A B
B C
C D
D E
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F G
G H
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J
J K
J K L
J K L M
J K L M N
J K L M N O
J K L M N O P
K L M N O P Q
L M N O P Q R
M N O P Q R S
N O P Q R S T
O P Q R S T U
P Q R S T U V
Q R S T U V W
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A
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rytpography
became more popular during the Middle Ages
J K
Early in the 15th century, Leon Battista Alberti devised the arche-
as
L Mencryption technologies became increasingly sophisti-
M
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Q
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classical encryptions and the invention of new encryptions.
The
such ciphers have been known as Vigenere ciphers since the 16th
use of encryption.
century.
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The Cipher of Mary Queen
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Caesar cipher, was that only
one encryption character could be
Vigenere Ciphers
Simple substitution ciphers, which involve a pattern of replacing
each character, like the one used by Mary Queen of Scots,
eventually became decrypted. Moreover, the nomenclator used
by Mary Queen of Scots involved the preparation of an enormous
code book and providing a code book to each cipher user, which
presented difficulties. The issue of receiving and providing a key
has been a problem for users for advanced encryption technologies in the modern era as well as for users in the Middle Ages.
Vigenere ciphers involve the use of a chart, known as the Vigenere Square (Figure 3). For example, if the key OLYMPIC is
used to encrypt GOLDMEDALIST, the letters in the original text
refer to the characters listed across the top of the table and the
letters in the key refer to the characters on the left side of the
table, thereby finding the encrypted message at their intersections.
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Uesugi Cipher
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if conversionhtable, fit is extremely
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4
decryption
with
the
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were more
difficult than with
'
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sented by the numbers across the top of each row and column.
(Figure 4)
Figure 3
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h x
m u
4
o
6 a
4. Modern Ciphers:
II Ciphers during World War I and the
Emergence of Encryption Machines
G1
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German Communication Cables
Disconnected by the United Kingdom
When the United Kingdom (U.K.) declared war on Germany at the
start of World War I (WW I), the U.K. disconnected the German
undersea communication cables, thereby making it necessary for
the German forces to use international communication cables via
the U.K. or wireless communications, and the German forces then
started to encrypt their communications in an attempt to prevent
hostile countries from reading them. The U.K., however, routed
all intercepted communications to an agency called the Admiralty
Intelligence Division, nicknamed Room 40, that was set up to
decrypt encrypted German communications. One of its achieve-
ADFGVX Cipher
The ADFGX Cipher, conceived by Colonel Fritz Nebel of the
German Army, was first put to practical use in 1918. It involves the
writing of five letters, ADFGX, in a column and a row, and replaces
a character with two characters, and the encryption method is
essentially the same as the Uesugi Cipher up to this point. The
distinguishing feature of the ADFGVX cipher, however, is that the
resulting series of letters is then ciphered again, this time by a
transposition cipher method. The ADFGX Cipher was subsequently
Zimmermann Telegram
Figure 4
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to decrypt by scrapping the key after using it just once, but since
until the end of the war. (The decrypting of the Enigma cipher was
achieved.)
three to five.
8
9
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RSA
DESCipher.
Cipher
As illustrated by the example of the Enigma cipher described
above, the decrypting of ciphers was treated with the strictest
secrecy by nations. In 1973, however, the National Bureau of
Standards (NBS, which later became the National Institute of
Standards and Technology or NIST) of the U.S. Department of
Commerce made a public call for a cipher method to be adopted
as the standard by the U.S. Government.
The encryption algorithm, one of the two elements that comprise a
cipher, i.e., the encryption algorithm and key, was disclosed.
This was a historically significant switch for cipher. NBS approved
the Data Encryption Standard (DES) cipher in 1976, and it became
the global standard.
If an encryption method was set up for each individual use in the
private sector, there would be a great burden on each business
enterprise. In the 1970s, for example, when banks sent messages
Public-Key Cryptosystem
A resolution
to the problem
of distributing
keys,so
a problem
since
Prime
factorization
means factoring
a number
that all its
facthe
time
of
the
Caesar
cipher,
was
finally
achieved
by
the
advent
tors are prime numbers, (numbers that cannot be divided by
of thenumber
public-key
cryptosystem.
Whitfield
Martin Hellman,
any
other
than one and
itself),Diffie,
as illustrated
in the
and
Ralph
Merkle
anticipated
the
network
computing
era
and
examples given below:
undertook to resolve the problem of the public key. They presented
the95=5
concept
a public-key
cryptosystem, which, by using
x19 of
851=23
x
asymmetrical
keys x(public
37 176653=241
733 key and private key), makes it possible
to encrypt
communications
9831779=2011
x 4889 without delivering a key in advance, at
the National Computer Conference of 1976. The concept entailed
making the encryption key available to anyone, whereas using a
When this method is used in the public-key cryptosystem, the
secret key that is known by only the recipient for decryption.
number on the left side of the equal sign is used as a portion of
the
key and the
private
key. If by
it isDiffie,
a ridiculously
prime
Thepublic
key exchange
concept
devised
Hellman,large
and Merkle
number,
then itarithmetic
would be difficult
to decrypt
the prime
on
has a modular
and one-way
function,
more number
specifically,
the
sideYof= the
equalB).
sign
in afunction
reasonable
amount
the right
function
AX (mod
This
means
that Aof
to time.
the
Even
though
the
details
of
the
mathematical
explanations
are
power of X divided by B leaves a remainder of Y A common key is
skipped
needless atocalculation
say, this characteristic
of the prime
obtainedhere,
by performing
using the procedure
defactorization
makes
it
difficult
to
decrypt
the
private
key
based
on
scribed below, which provides an identical solution to both parties:
the public key.
ciphers
was
treatedthat
as A
a =state
secret,
its existence was not made
let us
assume
7 and
B = 11).
public until 1997.
= 6).
the disclosure of the algorithm, use of the key, on the other hand,
4).
remained the same, because the same key was still used for
both ciphering and decrypting (common key cryptography) the
Each party then supplies its own Y value to the other party.
same as for a Caesar cipher or the DES cipher. The main problem
with common key cryptography was how to deliver the key.
10
11
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parties alone via the Internet. In other words, even though public
of public keys from 1024 bits to 2048 bits, as well as conform the
12
The DES cipher uses a 56-bit key, and since the number of com-
http://www.thawte.com/ resources/2048-bitcompliance/index.html
It is essential for those who use SSL encryption of communications
to upgrade their client devices, such as personal computer
browsers, cellular phones, smartphones and other devices, as well
as web servers, early to those capable of dealing with new hash
functions or responding to longer keys in order to sustain the
encryption strength.
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decrypt-
13
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7. Conclusion:
Enhancing the Effectiveness of
Encryptions used for SSL
-in
reason-
able time and cost. Unless users apply the measures required by
the characteristics and importance of the encrypted information,
code breakers can decrypt the encryptions.
There have been periods throughout history when encryption
methods were decrypted and no effective encryptions existed. In
the modern era, the popularization of computers and the Internet
have led to an encryption level unparalleled in the past and a situation in which the absence of effective encryption would seriously
impact the use of the Internet.
Encryptions used for SSL can sustain their effectiveness provided that the encryption strength of the browser, server, and SSL
certificate have all been enhanced to the same level, however,
effectiveness cannot be sustained unless the encryption strength
is enhanced, the same as with any other type of encryption.
It is important that both users and providers of information implement appropriate measures based on an adequate understanding
of the characteristic of encryption, which is that unless sufficient
measures are implemented they will eventually be decrypted.
References
Simon Singh, The Code Book (2001, Shinchosha)
14
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Inc. and its subsidiaries and affi liates in the United States and in foreign countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.