Thursday, April 19, 2018

Understanding Cryptanalysis And How It Affects You

By Steven Morris


Generally speaking, this is a study and practice of looking at a system of information in order to find secret codes, messages, or other information hidden within the system. There are a number of reasons why an individual or organization would have a good reason to do such a thing, both nefarious and for a greater good. It might be surprising to learn the many different uses of cryptanalysis.

Whenever a person logs into a website securely, the data is essentially always encrypted nowadays to help protect a person's data and identity. This is because it provides a big help it trying to keep everything private and secure. Some people might think that this automatically makes it impossible for a hacker or anyone else to get their information, but people should know that there are very skilled cryptanalysts out there who can break even the toughest codes.

One of the keys to this kind of work is looking for weaknesses that are already present in a system. This turns out to be much easier than trying to create new weaknesses. Knowing this makes it very important for any kind of technological developer or anyone working with encrypted data to make sure to have a trained professional ensure that there are no weaknesses in their security system.

Like most advanced studies, things have been constantly changing for cryptanalysts as time has gone by. One thing that has not changed, though, is their goal of analyzing coded information. Technological advancements are the main thing that has driven this development.

When this field of study first came about, it was being done in the most basic way imaginable to people nowadays: with an actual pen and paper. From there, in the World War II era, computers that would look massive by today's standards but were the most advanced machines in those days were used. Nowadays, only people with the highest tech computers can keep up with all of the complex codes and information systems.

The thing that makes this study and practice difficult is that there is never a complete set of information provided. This means that the person must only work with what they are provided. With this added challenge, they must use the information to solve the code.

When breaking a code, cryptanalysts make use a number of different mathematical techniques. This heavy focus on mathematics makes a deep understanding and high skill at it very important in this field. Using math is the only possible way to solve encrypted messages so complex, and even though calculating devices are commonly used, having a good mental calculator is essential in this job.

Decoding the underlying message is the last thing that a cryptanalyst does, since this must wait until after the mathematical method behind the encryption has been figured out. Once the algorithm has been determined, the cryptanalyst can look at everything they have been provided. From there, it might become clear right away whether their analysis is correct or not.




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