History of cryptography

Abstract

Cryptography represents the usage of ciphers to hide a certain message ensuring that only the intended recipient can read it. This paper provides an overview of the history of cryptography spanning from its ancient origins to modern-day encryption methods. It goes through important turning points like Polybius Square in Greece, the invention of the scytale in Sparta, and the development of rotor-based electromechanical machines, such as Enigma and SIGABA, during World War II. It goes over the ongoing fight for information security, from the weaknesses of antiquated techniques to the intricate machinery of World War II and the ultimate necessity for higher encryption standards. With the development of the Data Encryption Standard (DES) and its successor, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), the investigation carried into the Cold War era. The final section of the paper focuses on modern cryptography, emphasizing the importance of public key algorithms and the ongoing search for safe communication techniques. The paper emphasizes how public key cryptography replaced conventional symmetric ciphers, but it also discusses the difficulties in establishing safe key exchanges and the ongoing search for perfect encryption. Through an analysis of the historical evolution of cryptography, the paper underscores its relevance historically, the progress made in technology, and the ongoing search for safe means of communication.