TICSA TruSecure™ ICSA Certified Security Associate Exam TU0-001

Brief History of Cryptography

Evidence exists to show that many ancient cultures used forms of cryptography to hide the meanings of communications. The ancient Egyptians protected messages by using a deviation from the standard hieroglyphics, and the Greek historian Polybios created a cryptographic “code” in which letters of the alphabet were represented by other letters that indicated the location of the original letter in a grid. The Spartans used a device called a Scytale to allow generals to exchange secret messages.

Julius Caesar, Sir Francis Bacon, and Thomas Jefferson are all known to have developed ciphers (encryption methods) for sending private communications.

In times of war, cryptography has long been used to protect government and ...