Introduction

Encryption is the act of encoding text so that others not privy to the decryption mechanism (the "key") cannot understand the content of the text. Encryption has long been the domain of spies and diplomats [see D. Kahn, The Codebreakers[1]], but recently it has moved into the public eye with the concern of the protection of electronic transmissions and digitally stored data. Standard encryption methods usually have two basic flaws: (1) A secure channel must be established at some point so that the sender may exchnage the decoding key with the receiver; and (2) There is no guarantee who sent a given message. Public key encryption has rapidly grown in popularity (and controversy, see, for example, discussions of the Clipper chip on the archives given below) because it offers a very secure encryption method that addresses these concerns.

For additional online information about cryptography, you may connect to Quadralay's Cryptography Archive or the Draco crypto home page.