Over two thousand years ago, Julius Caesar’s methods of secret keeping were deemed groundbreaking.  His use of the substitution shift cipher was effective and secure.  Today, however, many would find his seemingly indestructible cipher to be elementary.

Like most human inventions, codes and ciphers have constantly evolved over the years to become more complicated and much more difficult to break.  Because of this advancement, what were once the world’s best ciphers and codes thousands of years ago have become simple puzzles that high schoolers, even middle schoolers, can deconstruct.

According to the author of The Code Book, Simon Singh, “[c]ryptanalysis could not be invented until a civilization had reached a sufficiently sophisticated level of scholarship” (Singh, 15).  The Muslim civilization achieved this heightened academic prowess due to its emphasis on being well-rounded, insightful humans.  Citizens studied a wide range of subjects, “including mathematics, statistics and linguistics” (Singh, 15).  Europeans, conversely, were stuck in the Dark Ages, unable to pursue the high scholastic level of the Islamic civilization.  While the Arabs were creating new ciphers and breaking old ones, Europe was far behind.

The Arabs had a significant advantage over the Europeans due to their overall knowledge of various subjects.  Similarly, humans today have an advantage over the Muslim civilization.  The ciphers that the Arabs were creating and breaking were much simpler than the ciphers are today, and after studying history and learning of ciphers and codes from old times, people today are able to easily decrypt old ciphers and codes.  Presently, individuals do not have to be trained in cryptanalysis because subjects such as mathematics and statistics are available to the average citizen.  Society today focuses almost entirely on “secular subjects” (Singh, 16), which is what led to the success of the Muslims.  People today also have greater opportunities to learn and have learned from history, so we are able to combat difficult problems, specifically ciphers, on our own, using past methodology, logic, creativity, and luck.

The evolution of the cipher is directly connected to the expansion of the human mind.  Substitution ciphers that were used by Julius Caesar are now commonly recognized and easy to decipher.  People today have a much more extensive knowledge of ciphers and codes, making the ciphers and codes easier to figure out.  As humans continue to advance, so will ciphers and codes and the means to breaking them.