Cryptography

Each an art form of its own, cryptanalysis and cryptography demonstrate opposing counterparts focused on accomplishing the same common goal—the understanding of a hidden message. These two techniques highlight the competitive battle between codemakers and codebreakers. Although cryptography requires a distinct level of skill and secrecy, the practice of cryptanalysis encounters even greater obstacles as the codebreaker must determine the meaning of the hidden message as well as the technique necessary to break it. Arguably, the mastery of one skill can lead to an expertise in the other as the making of a complex cipher derives the further logic and creativity necessary to uncover these intricate codes.

Singh cites the frequency analysis technique as an “innocuous observation” by Muslim cryptanalysts that became “the first great breakthrough in cryptanalysis” (17). Nowadays, this code-breaking method is quickly and easily used by first-time cryptanalysts with no previous instruction, almost as if by second nature. While the frequency analysis technique was undoubtedly a major breakthrough in the seventh century, the vast amount of education and technology provided to our society today allows this method to become an obvious first step towards discovering the unknown.

As time has gone on and technology has expanded, the human mind has reached a common intelligence almost unimaginable even one hundred short years ago. Education has taught us to not only focus on how to put things together, but also on how to take them apart. Practices such as cryptanalysis have become more applicable to the average man as common knowledge typically requires an understanding of both how and why things work. The fifteenth century Western world is a prime example of the human tendency to discover how something functions as immediately after cryptography was introduced “already there were individuals attempting to destroy this security” (27).

While in the past cryptanalysis was labeled as an expertise only accessible to those in higher society with the finest education, its ability to be understood by even the most amateur cryptanalyst emphasizes the incredible expansion of knowledge in our society today.

The continuous tug-of-war between cryptographers and cryptanalysts has triggered the expansion and prominence of cryptography in the world today. Just as quickly as new encryption methods are developed, new decryption strategies are implemented, creating a state of equilibrium in cryptography.

The art of secret writing dates back to Herodotus (Singh 3) and has had various uses in history, including military communication and murder plots. In more recent years, the explosion of technology has propelled the expansion and necessity of cryptography to the point where it has an effect, either direct or indirect, on every individual. Cryptography has a range of important functions, such as keeping bank account information private and ensuring that government information is kept secret.

Cryptanalysis was not invented until the Islamic golden age under the Abbasid caliphate (Singh 14). According to Singh, cryptanalysis could not be invented until a civilization had reached a sufficiently sophisticated level of scholarship in several disciplines, including mathematics, statistics, and linguistics (15). The Muslim civilization provided an ideal cradle for cryptanalysis because the Muslims were educated in a variety of fields and pursued knowledge in all of its forms (Singh 15).

This breadth of knowledge associated with the Muslim civilization is valued in most modern society today. Most individuals are at least somewhat proficient in an assortment of disciplines. Primary education sets the field by educating children about a variety of different subjects in order to equip them with a large intellectual toolset. Many secondary education institutions stress a liberal education in which students obtain an educational background in the humanities as well as the math and science fields.

Because of this, it is no longer necessary to undergo formal education in cryptanalysis in order to use elementary strategies such as frequency analysis. With the broad education that modern citizens receive, combined with the availability of abundant resources, especially those on the Internet, many of the older, simpler codes can be decrypted by the layperson. However, modern encryptions are much more complex than those of the past and may require serious study.

During the past few centuries, cryptography has exploded due to the expansion of technology. Cryptography affects numerous fields ranging from government information to banking, and brings in knowledge from a variety of areas including mathematics, logic, linguistics, and statistics. Modern education allows us to engage in the world of cryptography even as the complexity and number of cryptographic techniques increase exponentially.