Coding Theory and Cryptography: From Enigma and Geheimschreiber to Quantum Theory

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These are the proceedings of the Conference on Coding Theory, Cryptography, and Number Theory held at the U. S. Naval Academy during October 25-26, 1998. This book concerns elementary and advanced aspects of coding theory and cryptography. The coding theory contributions deal mostly with algebraic coding theory. Some of these papers are expository, whereas others are the result of original research. The emphasis is on geometric Goppa codes, but there is also a paper on codes arising from combinatorial constructions. There are both, historical and mathematical papers on cryptography. Several of the contributions on cryptography describe the work done by the British and their allies during World War II to crack the German and Japanese ciphers. Some mathematical aspects of the Enigma rotor machine and more recent research on quantum cryptography are described. Moreover, there are two papers concerned with the RSA cryptosystem and related number-theoretic issues.  

Handbook of Applied Cryptography

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Cryptography has a long and fascinating history. The most complete non-technical account of the subject is Kahn’s The Codebreakers. This book traces cryptography from its initial and limited use by the Egyptians some 4000 years ago, to the twentieth century where it played a crucial role in the outcome of both world wars. Completed in 1963, Kahn’s book covers those aspects of the history which were most significant (up to that time) to the development of the subject. The predominant practitioners of the art were those associated with the military, the diplomatic service and government in general. Cryptography was used as a tool to protect national secrets and strategies. 

The proliferation of computers and communications systems in the 1960s brought with it a demand from the private sector for means to protect information in digital form and to provide security services. Beginning with the work of Feistel at IBMin the early 1970s and culminating in 1977 with the adoption as a U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard for encrypting unclassified information, DES, the Data Encryption Standard, is the most well-known cryptographic mechanism in history. It remains the standard means for securing electronic commerce for many financial institutions around the world. 

The purpose of this book is to give an up-to-date treatise of the principles, techniques, and algorithms of interest in cryptographic practice. Emphasis has been placed on those aspects which are most practical and applied. The reader will be made aware of the basic issues and pointed to specific related research in the literature where more indepth discussions can be found. Due to the volume of material which is covered, most results will be stated without proofs. This also serves the purpose of not obscuring the very applied nature of the subject. This book is intended for both implementers and researchers. It describes algorithms, systems, and their interactions.