Throughout history, mankind has tried to hide certain information from prying eyes. Therefore, it is not surprising that from this desire there arose a whole science - cryptography. What it is? Where is it used now and for what purpose?
general information
Previously, cryptography methods, as a rule, served the state interests. But since the Internet has spread widely, it has become the property of a wide range of people. Cryptography is now used by hackers, fighters for data integrity and freedom of information and just individuals who want to encrypt their data and not shine them on the network. But why is cryptography still necessary? What is it and what can it give us? This is a science that deals with secrecy of messages.
History of development
It is believed that the basis of cryptography laid Aeneas Tactics. Attempts to encrypt the data were made in ancient India and Mesopotamia. But they were not very successful. The first reliable protection system was developed in ancient China. Cryptography became widespread in the countries of Antiquity. Then it was used for military purposes. The methods of cryptography also found application in the Middle Ages, but they were already used by merchants and diplomats. The golden age of this science is called the Renaissance. At the same time, a binary encryption method was proposed, similar to that used in computer technology today. During the First World War, it was recognized as a full-fledged combat tool. It was only necessary to unravel the enemy's messages - and you could get a stunning result. An example is the interception of a telegram sent by German ambassador Arthur Zimmerman to US intelligence services. The end result of this was that the US entered the fighting on the side of the Entente. The Second World War became a kind of crystallizer of the development of computer networks. And a considerable contribution to this was made by cryptography. What is it and what were the practical results of its application? Some governments were so frightened by the opportunities that opened up that they imposed a moratorium on the use of data encryption.
The fall of the state monopoly
But the restrictions on the part of governments proved to be ineffective, and in 1967 David Kahn's book "Codebreakers" was published. It looks at the history of development, as well as the basics of cryptography and cryptanalysis. When this book was published in the open press, other works began to appear after it. The situation developed in an avalanche. At the same time, a modern approach to this science is taking shape and the basic requirements to which the encrypted information should correspond must be clearly defined: integrity, confidentiality and untraceability. At the same time, two components and constantly interacting parts were singled out: cryptanalysis and cryptosynthesis. People in the first direction are looking for ways to bypass protection and the possibility of hacking. While those who are engaged in cryptosynthesis, the goal is to provide protection for information. And how are things going in modern times? Here, say, cryptography FSB can be hacked? How? How fast?
Modernity
When the Internet appeared, cryptography reached a new level. Her methods are now widely used by individuals in electronic commerce operations, with identification, authentication and so on. And how not to mention bitcoin - crypto currency, which is generated according to a certain mathematical algorithm and is not controlled by the state. This means of payment is used to bypass restrictions or simply not to shine. As an example, you can more closely look at the idea of bitcoin. This system was proposed by a young programmer named Wei Dai. And in 2009 it was successfully implemented by Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions do not require intermediaries in the form of a bank or other financial institution, so it is very difficult to track them. And because of the complete decentralization of the network, it is impossible to remove or freeze bitcoins. Therefore, they can be used to pay for any product - if the seller agrees to accept the currency. New money can be created only by the users themselves, who provide the computing power of their computers.
Terminology
So, there is cryptography, what is it, we already know, let's understand some terms to make it more convenient.
The most interesting for us is the autonomous system of electronic payments. Thanks to her, the seller and the buyer can interact without problems. However, it should be noted that in this case for the withdrawal of money to the bank account one has to conduct another transaction.
Anonymity is a concept that means that participants in a transaction work in confidence. It can be absolute and recallable. In the latter case, the participation of an arbitrator is still envisaged. He can, if there are certain conditions, identify people.
An honest participant is the name of a person who has all the necessary information and follows the protocol of the system relentlessly.
The trust center is an arbiter who enjoys the confidence of all participants. It guarantees people compliance with the agreed protocol.
An enemy is an intruder who wants to break the perimeter of an established confidential protocol. By default, all participants of the system are perceived this way.
We remain anonymous
Let's explore this topic with a simple example. Privacy authorities, as a rule, begin with anonymizers (web proxies). For them, you do not need to install separate software and clog your head with a complex hardware setting. In this case, the user simply sends information about which site he wants to go to. Anonymizer makes a request on his behalf, and then sends the received data to the person. But here there are some dirty tricks: the web proxy has a great opportunity to copy to itself all the information going through it. Many people use this opportunity quietly.
For more experienced users, the use of funds is more preferable. An example is Tor. This service uses a multi-layered routing system, which includes a chain of proxy servers. Tracking the data is difficult because of the ramifications of the transmission paths. Thanks to this, Tor provides its users with a high level of data transmission security. Though here there are features.
Shifrpunk
This term is applied to people who are very keen on the idea of anonymity. These people do not have enough proxy servers, and standard cryptography services of operating systems do not suit them. Therefore, they try to ensure maximum anonymity through the use of open cryptographic systems. For the most part, they are created by activists of the civic movement. It should be noted that these developments often have implicit political colors. This is due to the fact that activists are adherents of cryptoanarchism and many libertarian social ideas.
Developments
Mathematics and cryptography are closely interconnected sciences, the second follows from the first. The development of methods for encryption and decryption of data is based on a wide range of algebraic methods. All the necessary actions can be carried out by one person, but for the scale of the whole state, separate organizations are created.
Thus, in our case, we can cite as an example the Institute of Cryptography under the Federal Security Service. The encryption protocols developed by him are used to classify important data, which must be accessed for millions of years. No laughing matter is cryptography. Informatics also has a lot in common with this science. But in this case, we mean encrypting data in such a way that they can be read by computers of a certain architecture. As you can see, these sciences in modern life are closely related.
Conclusion
Cryptography is not an easy thing to do. Of course, you can create your own encryption system at leisure, but not the fact that it can provide more or less serious resistance to seasoned professionals. If there is a desire to comprehend the basics of cryptography, one can begin with mathematical disciplines. Although you can significantly simplify the task and use one of the many open data encryption systems. But in this case, it is necessary to raise the question of their effectiveness and level of protection.