Cryptography Essay

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Cryptography: the Past, Present and Future
The idea of cryptography has been in existence since 1900 BC with the use of inscriptions on the tomb of Khnumhotep II, in Egypt (Red Hat). Ever since that time, the uses and methods have changed, but the overall idea of transferring information in a secret and efficient manner has been the driving force for faster and safer data transfer. This paper will define cryptography, discuss its long history, current trends and the future of the complex electronic security technology.

CRYPTOGRAPHY DEFINED To begin, the idea of cryptography should be defined. ”Cryptography is a cornerstone of the modern electronic security technologies used today to protect valuable information resources on intranets, extranets,
That example does not compare to today’s cryptography, but the idea of creating a code for communication purposes ties the two together. Over the years, other forms of hidden message transmission has occurred, mostly for use in military actions. Around 100 BC, Julius Caesar used a form of encryption, a substitution cipher called the Caesar cipher, to give secret messages to his army generals. To explain further, “a cipher is an algorithm used for encryption or decryption” (Red Hat). So, in the substitution cipher, each character of text you see is represented as a different character according to the cipher
This is due to the increasing speed and complexity of technology, which includes the tech-savvy individuals. Some emerging trends for cryptology according to Amy Webb’s article in the Harvard Business Review include blockchain, which is a form of “distributed consensus system, where no one person controls all the data” (Webb). Currently, it had been used in conjunction with bitcoin technology, but there is an emerging prototype called “sidechain” (Webb), which carries its own code and will allow for easier authentication. This will open the door for a more widespread use of the platform and change the data protection

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