Cryptology

What Is Cryptology?

Cryptology is the scientific study of cryptography as well as cryptanalysis.

It is the mathematics, including the number theory, as well as the application of formulas and algorithms, that underpin cryptography and cryptanalysis to be more specific.

In order for the data to be secured for storage or even transmission, it has to be transformed in such a way that it can be difficult for an unauthorized person to actually be able and see the true meaning behind it. This is done through certain mathematical equations which are used and are difficult to solve unless specific criteria are met. The level of difficulty when it comes to solving these equations is referred to as intractability. These types of equations actually form the basis of cryptography.

Some of the most important ones include the discrete logarithm problem, the integer factorization problem and the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem.

Keep in mind that much of the terminology when it comes to cryptology dates to a time when written messages were the only things that actually were required to be secured, the source information, even if it is an apparently incomprehensible system of 1s and 0s, is referred to as plaintext as a result of this.

The secret information known only to the legitimate users is the key, while the transformation of the plaintext under the control of the key into a cipher or ciphertext is the encryption. The process of decryption is the inverse operation, where a legitimate receiver recovers the concealed information from the cipher using the key.