INTRODUCTION TO CRYPTOGRAPHY.

Abstract

This chapter provides both a grounding in the fundamentals and a feel for the subject to anyone interested either in doing cryptographic research or employing cryptographic security. Cryptography is currently an engineering subject in which there are more facts and rules of thumb than theorems or systematic developments. The text reflects this quality and combines a variety of material. Cryptographic fundamentals, defining concepts which are used and examined throughout the paper, are surveyed. This is followed by a survey of cryptographic systems ranging from puzzle cryptography to the DES and the new public key systems. Then comes an exploration of the taxonomy of cryptographic systems, providing a framework for classifying many of the systems given as examples. After covering some practical problems of applying cryptography, the authors review various applications.