Cryptography

Abstract

One of the main methods of security is cryptography encrypting data so that only a person with the right key can decrypt it and make sense of the data. There are many forms of encryption, some more effective than others. Cryptography works by taking the original information and converting it with cipher text, which encrypts the information to an unreadable form. To decrypt the information we simply d the opposite and decipher the unreadable information back into plain text. This enciphering and deciphering of information is done using an algorithm called a cipher. A cipher is basically like a secret code, but the main difference between using a secret code and a cipher is that a secret code will only work at a level of meaning. This chapter discusses a little of the history of cryptography, some popular encryption methods, and also some of the issues regarding encryption, such as government restrictions.