You should know that the technology that we handle daily and that many times we misuse and do not take advantage of, in order to reach us, goes through certain processes that we do not know.
All this often involves electronics, programming, design and other sciences that are implicit, so that we have a mobile or a computer in hand. Some of them when listening to them make us noise, and we think that it is something alien. But quite the opposite, they mix a lot in these areas.
That’s why this article is going to talk about one of them, which is cryptology. Here you will find only an open mouth of this interesting subject, with a brief history through ancient civilizations and their functions today.
Index:
What is cryptology and what is it for?
Cryptology is a science that has been present in humanity in various civilizations, thanks to it good and bad people have been able to achieve their goals in many important points throughout our history.
The word comes from the Greek language and it is divided into 2; “Krypto”, that refers to a mystery, something hidden or secret, and “Logos”, that may well mean symbol or logo as understood, but in this case It is attributed to the study.
As a quick conclusion we can say that cryptology is the science that is responsible for deciphering secret messages, and also the way of hiding a message with the naked eye, through a communications channel, that could be a computer network.
To achieve this, the cryptology uses what is known as coding, this is used to convert a common message into a code, which only the person who has the information in their possession can understand decoding.
Basically, is an art that allows you to protect the information, so that this way, even if it falls into the wrong hands, can be interpreted as it really is.
History and evolution of cryptology How has it improved over the years years?
It is possible that from the time of the Egyptians cryptology was already used as a method of communication, since its texts required a code to be decoded. Even so, this cannot be called cryptology as what we know today.
The first to actually encrypt the information, from which a record could be obtained, were the Romans when their empire was booming and they were in the conquest of the known world.
The encryption method used by them is the famous “Cesar Encryption”, with which it is said that the Romans shared their maneuvers and battle strategies to prevent their plans from falling into enemy hands.
This allowed only the generals to have access to the information that the messengers carried on the scrolls. This simple method consisted of a certain displacement of the letters according to their position in the alphabet.
For example, if the letter “A” must be written with a displacement of 5, then counting from the “A” 5 letters the corresponding letter is the “F”, and they could change the number of displacement to number 24 on different occasions, which allowed some complexity for their enemies.
Approximately 800 years later, an Arab mathematician called Al Kindi, devised a technique that allowed him to break the cessation of cessation, by counting the most frequent letters.
In general, the letter that repeats the most in a text of our language is the “E”. Yes in an encrypted text the letter “J” is repeat more than all, probably the number of displacement is 4, because from J to E there are 4 letters in the middle.
Subsequently, we know that in the 2 world wars that our race has suffered, cryptology played a very important role in its development.
At present, much of the progress in it has been vetoed to the general public by almost every government in the world. In its time the NSA of the United States, prohibited any distribution of materials of this type, because they kept all these techniques hidden for their espionage operations.
Over time these restrictions have given up a bit, and that is why almost all the technology we handle every day is encrypted. Such is the case of WhatsApp messaging, cryptocurrencies, bank transactions and so hundreds of examples.
What are the main disciplines framed within the cryptology technique?
Cryptology encompasses 4 major disciplines that make this art a complete science. Here are what they are:
Cryptography
It comes from two words in Greek, which are “Kripto”, that we already mentioned refers to the occult, and “Graphé” which means writing.
Many people often think that the cryptography is the true science, but it is not so, since only is a discipline that is part of the cryptology.
For its part, cryptography is the discipline of cryptography that allows us to distort the message, in a way that only who has the keys can understand what is transmitted.
In our era, it plays an important role, since cryptography is being used to transfer value from one point to another for 10 years, without the need for intermediaries and without interference risks, this is the famous Bitcoin.
Cryptanalysis
It can be said that it is the opposite of cryptography, since this seeks to open gaps in the weak points of complex cryptographic systems. Once its objective is fulfilled, it allows the information to be correctly interpreted. This discipline is also divided into two words of Greek, hidden or secret and “Analyein”, which means unleashing or discovering.
It can be used to strengthen cryptography techniques, because finding vulnerable points in an encrypted system can correct and increase security.
Steganography
This discipline is similar to cryptography, but its difference is that it is a bit more complex and novel. As we saw in cryptography, encryption allows you to send a message with hidden and meaningless content, for someone who doesn’t have the keys to decode it.
Instead, steganography also allows you to send an encrypted message, hide the existence of the message, so that it is not even suspected of its existence.
In computing, Steganography allows you to send compressed and hidden information in video files , images or documents, which makes it very difficult to detect hidden messages in common files.
The stegoanalysis
As everything has its counterpart, the stegoanalysis fulfills the functions opposite to those of steganography, so it is responsible for detecting in which files the encrypted messages are hidden.
Cryptology in the digital age How does this system work in computer security?
A pesar de no darnos cuenta, la criptología se ha ido insertando en nuestra sociedad en todas las cosas que hacemos a diario, para ser más precisos la criptografía.
But, it should be noted that before this was reserved only for the use of governments, to protect war secrets and all the things that can harm the security of a country.
Thanks to the great advance of the Internet, this science was increasingly required in these environments to avoid as far as possible, unfortunate virtual scams, hacks and frauds.
That’s why all information travels through different types of encryption, some more complex than others. But, this is the only way that the information does not lose its direction and reach its destination intact. A clear example is bank transfers, cryptocurrency payments, text messages, some types of web calls, emails, among many others.