From Greek κρυπτός, (kryptos) “hidden, secret”; and γράφειν (graphein) “writing” (or cryptology, -λογία, (-logia), “the study”, cryptography is a branch of information processing which studies techniques for secure communications over an untrusted channel, and of “cracking” such communications.

Modern cryptography includes: encryption and decryption; authentication & authorisation; data integrity and confidentiality.

“Classic” cryptography almost entirely revolved around encryption and decryption: creating cyphers (paired algorithms, usually with a key) to turn plaintext into cyphertext; some early work also involved hiding the message (steganography). Modern cryptology encompasses cryptography (creating encryption techniques) and cryptanalysis (breaking encrypted messages without the key).

Attacks On The 1-time Pad

c₁ = m₁ ⊕ PRG(k) c₂ = m₂ ⊕ PRG(k) then c₁ ⊕ c₂ = m₁ ⊕ m₂ and there is enough redundancy in English (and ASCII) to recover m1, m2 (and therefore PRG(k)). Venona Project MS-PPTP WEP