ASL
Have you ever left a note for a friend only to have the wrong person pick it up and read it? Have you ever wondered how World War II was won? Have you ever ordered an item on the Internet? Have you ever used an ATM? Have you ever bought a lottery ticket? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, then you are interested in cryptology.
ASL
Cryptology is made up of two parts, cryptography and cryptanalysis. Cryptography is how to write messages in secret using different methods. This secret message is called a cipher. Cryptanalysis is how to "break" the cipher so that you can read the message.
ASL
The process of changing a message to a cipher is called encryption or enciphering. The process of changing a cipher to a message is called decryption or deciphering.
ASL
There are many types of encryption. Some change all the letters to different letters. Most types of encryption use a more complicated process. They change all the letters in a message to numbers. Then some kind of math is performed on these numbers. These new numbers are changed back into letters. These new letters make up the cipher. The more secret the message is the more complicated encrypting system is used.
