Cryptography Timeline

By logoik2010
  • 1119 BCE

    Templar Cipher

    Substituted letters with Symbols (originally designed for 25 letters)
  • 400 BCE

    Kamasutra Cipher

    Meant to instruct women how to hide secret messages
    Split alphabet substition method
  • 200 BCE

    Polybius Cipher

    Created by Polybius
    Based on a 5x5 letter matrix
  • 100 BCE

    Caeser Cipher

    Subsitution method (basic building block for encryption techniques)
  • Jan 1, 1553

    Vigenère cipher

    First mentioned in 1553 by Giovan Battista Bellaso
    Misattributed to Blaise de Vigenère

  • Baconian Cipher

    Created by: Francis Bacon
    Binary Steganography

  • Playfair Cipher

    Best known multiple-letter encryption
    Sir Charles Wheatstone

  • Larrabee Cipher

    Based on the Vigenère cipher
    Registered with Library of Congress in 1874

  • Nihilist Cipher

    Base on the Polybius Cipher

  • Four-Square Cipher

    Created by: Felix Delastelle
    Uses four 5x5 matrices place in a square pattern

  • Vernam Cipher

    Created by: Gilbert Vernam
    Works on binary bits instead of letters

  • One-Time Pad

    Suggested improvement to the Vernam Cipher
    By: Joseph Mauborgne
    Considered truly unbreakable if done right

  • Enigma Machines

    Used by: Germany & Japan during WWII
    Paved the way for today's Data Encryption Standard (DES)

  • Hill Cipher

    Similar to Playfair - it hides single-letter frequencies
    By: Lester Hill

  • Navajo Cipher

    Phoneitc Navajo Language substitution
    By: Philip Johnston