Free Example of Evolution of Cryptologic Fields Essay

The start of the cryptology evolution is inseparably connected with the invention of writing. There existed some earlier forms of coding like sights on stones and trees, where special routs where pointed.   

The earliest worthful cryptologic artifact was found in Egypt. Its age is about 4000 years. The artifact looked like the decoded pictures and notes written on monuments.

One of the earliest tools, used for the performance of transposition cipher was a scytale. Invented in 400 BC, it was very popular in Greece and was used to provide the communication during warrior companies.

The square, the other one tool for coding information, appeared in 200 BC. By using numbers, square presented a system within which the letters were coded. It could start from any number; the combination of numbers could be different and the principle of its decoding was different too.

Caesar’s cipher that is characterized by putting the letters of the alphabet in appropriate way, so that one could not find a word in a message, is known since 100 BC. To decipher such a code one should replace the forth letter of the alphabet by the first one, and so on. During the years 1300-1500, the cryptography was one of the most dependable methods of the secret information delivery among the leaders of the countries.

The system of cryptography continued to evolve. According to Stinson (2005), in 1500-1800 AD, the first code vocabularies were published. They got a name “numenclator” and were used in diplomatic missions. Originally, “numenclator” was a person talented in names remembrance (usually a slave, who could identify visitors). Later this meaning was changed into “someone, who invents the names”. The nomenclatures are still used today mostly for decoding local naming systems within the Internet by forming the global dictionary that picks out local naming conventions.

Further development of the decoding science systems was entirely dependent on the technical development and on the development of human’s skills. When the rudimentary machines and printing press appeared for converting texts into ciphers, cryptology was enhanced due to the accessibility of options. It is useful to accent a difference that exists between the coding of information and other methods for secret communication, such as invisible writing or microdots. There are other traditional variants of privy communication that may or may not be connected with cryptography.

In 1790, Thomas Jefferson invented a cipher that was named “Jefferson Cylinder”.  It included 36 discs, and each of them had a random alphabet. To unscramble the key one had to find out right discs positions. Jefferson Cylinder is rather simple in usage and is applied even nowadays.

 In 1817-1870, Wheatstone disc appeared. It was invented by Wadsworth in 1817, but in 1860's, Wheatstone improved it by enclosing two concentric wheels used to produce a polyalphabetic cipher.

An electric telegraph, created in 1845, is one of the most eminent inventions. Its creators were Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse. Nowadays it is called “Morse Code”. Being quite distinct from the telegraphs, which appeared earlier and “used 26 wires for the 26 letters, the electric telegraph was composed of only one wire. The electrical signals sent from the telegraph made the same on the receiver’s ticker tape in forms of lines, dots and spaces”. The estimated variants of the sights combinations define all kinds of writing symbols.

Morse code is sometimes presented by “signals or tones, which represent the symbols and the pauses which represent the long and short gaps”. Morse code was a useful invention at that time, as with the help of the electric telegraph “the messages could be kept in secret. Today, Morse code can be used by everyone, since a key is decoded” (Stinson, 2005).

 As Smart points out (2004), the cryptology was actively used in military actions. One of the complex codes was devised in Germany, in 1900, and was called “German ADFGVX fractionation cipher. The code was bilateral: German inventors put their own twist on the coder by adding the V”. Further, the code in cryptogram was ciphered by a determinate displacing.

During the Second World War there appeared some more examples of using the coding language. One of them is the disposal Nazi of the Enigma. The Enigma is a device that uses a keypad and rotors to encrypt a message. A message is pushed on the keypad, and different letters appear on the base of the enigma machine. Position is denoted by the numbers, which are disposed on rotors. The rotor then changes the position to present a new code. In other words, if symbols that are pushed on the keypad are the same, a different symbol will be shown. “When the letter is found, the person who sends it must send not only the letters that were found, but also the prime position of the rotors. The one who receives the message must set his enigma machine to the same standards and type in the codified text. The letters that appears should be the prime message. Although the device was created in 1918, it was successfully used by Germans in their war operations”.

According to Paar et al. (2009), one of the most important inventions in cryptology is Navaho Code Talkers that was also used in the Second World War. It was a cryptologic field and its speed of transporting the coded messages was faster than the speed of other forms of secret communication. Comparing Morse code and Navaho, for example, we can mention that Morse code spends several hours on sending given information. Navaho, on the other hand, spends several minutes on transporting the same message. At the same time, Navaho Code Talkers has negative sides. The peculiarity of this code system is that it is an artificial, unwritten language that is very difficult to pick up. It could be understood by only several members of communicative group.

Although cryptography was formed throughout long years and was mostly used in wars or diplomatic mischief-making, nowadays it is still used in different ways. Codes are everywhere today, but we cannot even notice them. Every logo, symbol or label is a code. Cryptology plays a huge role in our life. It is widely used in electrical industry. All computer programs are created with the use of codes.

Instead of world’s knowledge about the ways of ciphering and deciphering, there are still many problems in cryptology. The first one is a low speed of decoding a message and much time needed to find a key. There exist special computers to decode information, because very often it is too problematic to find a key in time. The second problem is that there can be miscommunication between keys that causes many problems with receiving the information. To prevent this one can use the services of the code breakers.