Cryptography, History, and Best Practices
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
Cryptography, derived from the Greek words 'kryptós' meaning hidden and 'gráphein' meaning to write, represents a diverse field of study focused on securing data. It serves as a fundamental pillar for the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of digital information, spanning sectors from finance and healthcare to national defense and beyond. This art of 'hidden writing' involves the use of algorithms and cryptographic keys to morph understandable plain text into an indecipherable format, known as ciphertext.
Cryptography's roots trace back to ancient civilizations, where basic ciphers like Caesar's cipher were used to encode important messages. In the modern era, pioneers such as Claude Shannon laid the mathematical groundwork that has since shaped the field, culminating in an era dominated by complex algorithms and computer-driven encryption.
