This accessible textbook presents a fascinating review of cryptography and cryptanalysis across history. The text relates the earliest use of the monoalphabetic cipher in the ancient world, the development of the “unbreakable” Vigenère cipher, and an account of how cryptology entered the arsenal of military intelligence during the American Revolutionary War.  Meer

The science of cryptology is made up of two halves. Cryptography is the study of how to create secure systems for communications. Cryptanalysis is the study of how to break those systems.  Meer

When the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, it was woefully unprepared to wage a modern war. Whereas their European counterparts already had three years of experience in using code and cipher systems in the war, American cryptologists had to help in the building of a military intelligence unit from scratch.  Meer

In May 1917, William and Elizebeth Friedman were asked by the U.S. Army to begin training officers in cryptanalysis and to decrypt intercepted German diplomatic and military communications.  Meer

This accessible textbook presents a fascinating review of cryptography and cryptanalysis across history. The text relates the earliest use of the monoalphabetic cipher in the ancient world, the development of the “unbreakable” Vigenère cipher, and an account of how cryptology entered the arsenal of military intelligence during the American Revolutionary War.  Meer