Chapter 0x700. CRYPTOLOGY

Cryptology is defined as the study of cryptography or cryptanalysis. Cryptography is simply the process of communicating secretly through the use of ciphers, and cryptanalysis is the process of cracking or deciphering such secret communications. Historically, cryptology has been of particular interest during wars, when countries used secret codes to communicate with their troops while also trying to break the enemy's codes to infiltrate their communications.

The wartime applications still exist, but the use of cryptography in civilian life is becoming increasingly popular as more critical transactions occur over the Internet. Network sniffing is so common that the paranoid assumption that someone is always sniffing network traffic might not be so paranoid. Passwords, credit card numbers, and other proprietary information can all be sniffed and stolen over unencrypted protocols. Encrypted communication protocols provide a solution to this lack of privacy and allow the Internet economy to function. Without Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, credit card transactions at popular websites would be either very inconvenient or insecure.