Getting Started in Cryptography and Cryptanalysis

Knowledge is one of the most important aspects to consider when designing and implementing complex systems, such as companies, organizations, military operations, and so on. Information falling into the wrong hands can be a tragedy and can result in a huge loss of business or disastrous outcomes. To guarantee the security of communications, cryptography can be used to encode information in such way that nobody will be able to decode it without having the legal right. Many ciphers have been broken when a flaw has been found in their design or enough computing power has been applied to break an encoded message. Cryptology, as you will see later, consist of cryptography and cryptanalysis.