Cryptography Reference
In-Depth Information
1.1.1
The rising profile of information security
Even as recently as the end of the last century, cryptography was a topic of
which only specialists and interested users were aware. In fact, this probably
also applies to the much broader discipline of information security. So, what has
changed?
Information is not a new concept and has always been of value. Society has
always dealt with information that has needed some level of protection and has
always used processes to safeguard that information. There is nothing new about
the need for information security.
Likewise, cryptography is not a new science, although some would say that it
has only recently been formally treated as such. It has been used for centuries to
protect sensitive information, especially during periods of conflict.
However, information security is now a subject with a relatively high
profile. Most people use information security mechanisms on a daily basis.
Information security incidents are widely reported in the media. Information
security protection features on government agendas. The reason for this
increased profile has been the development of computer networks, particularly
the Internet. This development has not necessarily resulted in an increase
in the amount of information in the world, but data is now easier to gen-
erate, access, exchange and store. The benefits of lower communication and
storage costs, as well as increased connectivity and higher processing speeds,
have encouraged automation of business processes. As a result, more and
more applications and services are conducted electronically. Since all this
electronic data has the potential to be transmitted and stored in environments
that are relatively insecure, the need for information security has become
paramount.
The rise in significance of information security has brought with it an
increase in the importance and widespread use of cryptography. As we shall see,
cryptography lies at the heart of most technical information security mechanisms.
As a result, cryptography has become something that most people use in
everyday applications. Once largely the domain of government and the military,
cryptography is now deployed on devices that can be found in the pockets of
almost every consumer of technology.
1.1.2
Two very different office environments
It is worth briefly considering precisely what types of physical security mech-
anisms we used to rely on prior to computer communication. Indeed, we
still rely on many of these in physical situations. The fact that these security
mechanisms cannot easily be applied to electronic environments provides the
central motivation for defining cryptographic mechanisms.
