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Cryptographic Milestones

500 BC, Hebrew scholars
substitution ciphers
1863, Kasiski
polyalphabetic cipher cryptanalysis
1883, Kerchoff
Requirements for viability of encryption systems.
1917, Gilbert Vernam
(AT&T) one-time pad.
1917, William Friedman, Herbert Yardley
fathers of US cryptanalysis.
1919, Koch and Damm
invention of rotor machine.


Up until the 1970s, cryptography is primarily studied by governments and criminals.



Kevin McCurley
1/23/1998