And compared with Miller’s day, today we have more ways of connecting than the telegraph-through Internet of Things devices, wearable tech, and blockchain-dependent services, to name just a few-and they all need strong encryption. So instead, we’ve relied on less secure encryption methods, with the consequence that attackers who are sufficiently patient and knowledgeable can now crack into any encrypted data they want. That, it turns out, is incredibly hard to do. And ever since, cryptographers have tried to devise a way to generate and distribute the unique and truly random numbers that the technique requires. Joseph Mauborgne came out with essentially the same idea, which they called the one-time pad. For truly unbreakable encryption, each string of random numbers would encode only one message before being discarded.Ībout 35 years after Miller’s book, Bell Labs engineer Gilbert S. Even a meddlesome cable operator wouldn’t know what to make of MHNT unless he also had the list of random numbers, 5-3-2-4. For example, to encode the word HELP, you might shift the H by 5 so that it became an M, the E by 3 so that it became an H, the L by 2 so that it became an N, and the P by 4 so that it became a T. In his own book on telegraphic code, published in 1882, Miller proposed encrypting messages by shifting each letter in the message by a random number of places, resulting in a string of gibberish. Learn more → Join the world’s largest professional organization devoted to engineering and applied sciences and get access to all of Spectrum’s articles, archives, PDF downloads, and other benefits. Join the world’s largest professional organization devoted to engineering and applied sciences and get access to all of Spectrum’s articles, podcasts, and special reports. For more exclusive content and features, consider Joining IEEE. Enjoy more free content and benefits by creating an account Saving articles to read later requires an IEEE Spectrum account The Institute content is only available for members Downloading full PDF issues is exclusive for IEEE Members Access to Spectrum's Digital Edition is exclusive for IEEE Members Following topics is a feature exclusive for IEEE Members Adding your response to an article requires an IEEE Spectrum account Create an account to access more content and features on IEEE Spectrum, including the ability to save articles to read later, download Spectrum Collections, and participate in conversations with readers and editors. Stay ahead of the latest technology trends.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |