Cryptography, or cryptology (from Ancient Greek: κρυπτός, romanized: kryptós "hidden, secret";
and γράφειν graphein, "to write", or -λογία -logia, "study", respectively[1]), is the practice and study
of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries.
[2]
More generally, cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third
parties or the public from reading private messages; [3] various aspects in information
security such as data confidentiality, data integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation[4] are
central to modern cryptography. Modern cryptography exists at the intersection of the disciplines
of mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering, communication science, and physics.
Applications of cryptography include electronic commerce, chip-based payment cards, digital
currencies, computer passwords, and military communications.
Cryptography prior to the modern age was effectively synonymous with encryption, the
conversion of information from a readable state to apparent nonsense. The originator of an
encrypted message shares the decoding technique only with intended recipients to preclude
access from adversaries. The cryptography literature often uses the names Alice ("A") for the
sender, Bob ("B") for the intended recipient, and Eve ("eavesdropper") for the adversary.[5] Since
the development of rotor cipher machines in World War I and the advent of computers in World
War II, the methods used to carry out cryptology have become increasingly complex and its
application more widespread.