If you want a formal introduction to cryptography, you should read An Introduction to Mathematical Cryptography. They also use a lot of time looking for security holes in existing protocols to make sure they can still be trusted. From Greek κρύπτω krýpto 'hidden' and the verb γράφω gráfo 'to write' or λέγειν legein 'to speak'.Ĭryptography is the practice of establishing a secure connection between two parties in the presence of a third party whom you don't want to be able to read your messages.Ĭryptographers design algorithms and protocols, which do exactly this (and many other things).
