History

Cryptography originates back in ancient Egypt where they used hieroglyphics to communicate. In around 450 BC, the Spartans used a technique called “scytale” to send secret messages during their military campaigns. A narrow strip of leather was wrapped around a wooden rod of the same diameter, and the message was written along the length of the rod. Once unwrapped, the message appeared as a series of disconnected letters. The receiver of the message would need to have a rod of the same diameter in order to read the message.

During the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar used a substitution cipher, now known as the Caesar Cipher, to encode his military communications. This cipher substitutes each letter of the alphabet with the letter that is three places down from it. So, for example, “A” would become “D” and “B” would become “E”. This system was relatively easy to break, but it was effective at the time.

During the Middle Ages, cryptography was used by diplomats and royalty to send secret messages. One of the methods used was the “Vigenere Cipher”, which is a polyalphabetic substitution cipher. This cipher substitutes each letter of the alphabet with a different letter, depending on the key. For example, if the key is “A”, then “A” would be replaced with “B”, “B” would be replaced with “C”, and so on. This system is more difficult to break than the Caesar Cipher, but it was still eventually cracked.

In the early 1900s, the first mechanical cipher machine was invented. Called the “Enigma Machine”, this machine was used by the German military to encode their communications during World War II. The Enigma Machine used a polyalphabetic substitution cipher, with a different alphabet for each letter of the key. This made the cipher much more difficult to break, and it was not until after the war that the Allies were able to crack the code.

Cryptography has come a long way since its early origins. With the inception of computers, cryptography has become much more sophisticated, and there are now a variety of different methods that are used to secure communications and data digitally.