Cryptography Reference
In-Depth Information
yet, cryptanalysis was decisive for the outcome of the war. Some examples
from this era and the time after show this rather dramatically.
•
The landing of the allied forces in World War II would have been delayed
considerably if the Enigma code of the submarines hadn't been broken.
It is assumed that nuclear bombs would have fallen over Europe.
•
The battle near the Midway Islands stopped the Japanese in the Pacific.
This battle would surely have taken a different turn if the Japanese had
introduced their new secret code in May 1942, as planned, and not in
June — the battle took place at the beginning of June. Cryptanalysis had
an important part in the success of the USA.
•
The German Wehrmacht threatened to land in Great Britain. After a few
disasters for the British navy, which indicated the fact that the German
radio reconnaissance listened in on them, the code was finally changed,
and the tide turned suddenly.
•
The fall of a French fortress in Vietnam was believed to have happened
because of cryptology.
You can find a large number of historical events in the topic by Kahn mentioned
above.
Cryptology was once a power factor and a monopoly of governments. This
changed quickly when a demand for secrecy of information emerged among
firms and then increasingly among individuals. The turning point in public
cryptological research was probably triggered by the publication of DES in
the mid-1970s. The entire matter may really have been caused by a misunder-
standing between the NSA and the NIST (see Section 4.3.1). Nevertheless, the
demand for a generally accessible secure method had become urgent by the
development of computer technology anyway. In cryptological research work
from those times I know about, DES (in addition to asymmetric methods)
played an extraordinary role. Finally, a good algorithm had become known and
could be analyzed.
Meanwhile, cryptology has become an everyday matter for everybody. It will
hardly protect anybody from business-secret theft. The most you can do is to
sue the thief if you find him. By then it is normally too late in our fast-paced
world. Interception-proof transmission channels will remain exceptional cases,
if only for cost reasons. Furthermore, theft of information can seldom be proved.
What remains is cryptography as a means of protecting against theft. The way
