Secret History: The Story of Cryptology (Hardcover)

Most available cryptology books primarily focus on either mathematics or history. Breaking this mold, Secret History: The Story of Cryptology gives a thorough yet accessible treatment of both the mathematics and history of cryptology. Requiring minimal mathematical prerequisites, the book presents the mathematics in sufficient detail and weaves the history throughout the chapters. In addition to the fascinating historical and political sides of cryptology, the author—a former Scholar-in-Residence at the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) Center for Cryptologic History—includes interesting instances of codes and ciphers in crime, literature, music, and art.

Following a mainly chronological development of concepts, the book focuses on classical cryptology in the first part. It covers Greek and Viking cryptography, the Vigenère cipher, the one-time pad, transposition ciphers, Jefferson’s cipher wheel, the Playfair cipher, ADFGX, matrix encryption, World War II cipher systems (including a detailed examination of Enigma), and many other classical methods introduced before World War II.

The second part of the book examines modern cryptology. The author looks at the work of Claude Shannon and the origin and current status of the NSA, including some of its Suite B algorithms such as elliptic curve cryptography and the Advanced Encryption Standard. He also details the controversy that surrounded the Data Encryption Standard and the early years of public key cryptography. The book not only provides the how-to of the Diffie-Hellman key exchange and RSA algorithm, but also covers many attacks on the latter. Additionally, it discusses Elgamal, digital signatures, PGP, and stream ciphers and explores future directions such as quantum cryptography and DNA computing.

With numerous real-world examples and extensive references, this book skillfully balances the historical aspects of cryptology with its mathematical details. It provides readers with a sound foundation in this dynamic field.

大多數現有的密碼學書籍主要聚焦於數學或歷史。打破這一模式，《秘密歷史：密碼學的故事》全面而易於理解地介紹了密碼學的數學和歷史。本書對數學要求最低，以足夠的細節呈現數學內容，並將歷史融入各章節中。除了引人入勝的歷史和政治方面的密碼學，作者──美國國家安全局（NSA）密碼學歷史中心前駐校學者──還包括了密碼和密碼破譯在犯罪、文學、音樂和藝術中的有趣案例。

本書主要按照時間順序發展概念，第一部分聚焦於古典密碼學。它涵蓋了希臘和維京密碼學、維吉尼亞密碼、一次性密鑰、置換密碼、傑斐遜的密碼轉輪、普萊菲爾密碼、ADFGX、矩陣加密、第二次世界大戰的密碼系統（包括對恩尼格瑪的詳細研究）以及其他許多在第二次世界大戰之前引入的古典方法。

本書的第二部分探討現代密碼學。作者介紹了克勞德·香農的工作，以及美國國家安全局的起源和現狀，包括其Suite B算法，如橢圓曲線加密和高級加密標準。他還詳細介紹了圍繞數據加密標準和公鑰密碼學早期年代的爭議。本書不僅提供了Diffie-Hellman密鑰交換和RSA算法的操作方法，還涵蓋了對後者的許多攻擊。此外，它還討論了Elgamal、數字簽名、PGP和流式密碼，並探討了量子密碼學和DNA計算等未來發展方向。

本書通過眾多實際案例和廣泛的參考文獻，巧妙地平衡了密碼學的歷史和數學細節。它為讀者在這個充滿活力的領域中打下了堅實的基礎。