The History of Cryptography

Explore the evolution of secret communication from ancient times to quantum encryption

4000+ Years of History
10+ Major Breakthroughs
∞ Possibilities

Cryptographic Timeline

Ancient Cryptography

Caesar Cipher (50 BCE)

One of the earliest known substitution ciphers, used by Julius Caesar for military communications.

3
Original: HELLO WORLD
Encrypted: KHOOR ZRUOG

Scytale (7th Century BCE)

Ancient Greek transposition cipher using a wooden rod to wrap parchment.

IAMAHIDDEN MESSAGE

Steganography

The art of hiding messages in plain sight, from invisible inks to digital watermarks.

This is just a normal paragraph of text.

Classical Cryptography

Enigma Machine (1918)

The famous German encryption device used during WWII, eventually cracked by Alan Turing and his team.

A
A
A
Q
W
E
R
T
Y
A
S
D
F
G
H
Input:
Output:

Vigenère Cipher (1553)

A polyalphabetic substitution cipher that was considered unbreakable for 300 years.

Encrypted: KRYGSQIWAMC

Modern Cryptography

RSA Encryption (1977)

The first practical public-key cryptosystem, revolutionizing secure communications.

Key Generation Process

Step 1: Choose two prime numbers
p = 17 q = 19
Step 2: Calculate n = p × q
n = 323
Step 3: Calculate φ(n) = (p-1)(q-1)
φ(n) = 288
Step 4: Choose e (public exponent)
e = 5
Step 5: Calculate d (private exponent)
d = 173
Original: A (ASCII: 65)
Encrypted: 163
Decrypted: 65 (A)

AES Encryption (2001)

Advanced Encryption Standard - the current standard for symmetric encryption.

AES-128 Encryption Process

Encrypted (hex): Loading...

Quantum Cryptography

Quantum Key Distribution

Using quantum mechanics principles to create theoretically unbreakable encryption.

BB84 Protocol Simulation

Alice (Sender)
→→→→→→→
Bob (Receiver)
Key Sifting Process

Post-Quantum Cryptography

Preparing for the age of quantum computers with quantum-resistant algorithms.

Classical vs Post-Quantum Algorithms

Algorithm Type Classical Post-Quantum Quantum Resistant
RSA ✅ Secure CRYSTALS-Kyber ✅ Yes
ECC ✅ Secure CRYSTALS-Dilithium ✅ Yes
AES ✅ Secure AES-256 ⚠️ Partially