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1900 BCE
Egyptians Use Hieroglyphics
Who or what triggered the event?
The Egyptians developed hieroglyphics in order to hide messages from those who did not need to know the meanings of the messages that were being written. Who was impacted by the event?
At this time, Egyptians were impacted by this. The people that new how to decipher hieroglyphics would be able to read the messages that were written by the scribes. -
700 BCE
Scytale
Who or what triggered the event?
The Greeks and Spartans used this device to communicate during military campaigns. Who was impacted by this event?
The Spartans were able to use this as a communication device. A lot of people were impacted by this stick like encryption tool due to the fact that it was one of the first developments in cryptography. -
100 BCE
Caesar Cipher
Who or what triggered the event?
This was one of the earliest ciphers. It was used to encrypt messages. Who was impacted by the event?
This was impacted by anyone that had the desire to send encrypted messages. -
The Babington Plot
Who or what triggered the event?
In 1586, Anthony Babington sent letters to Mary, Queen of the Scots, to try to get her on the throne. What he did not realize is that the letters were being intercepted and deciphered. Who was impacted by the event?
The Babington Plot ultimately led to the execution of Mary and the arrest of Anthony Babington and John Ballard. -
Morse Code Created
Who or what triggered the event?
Samuel Morse developed this way of communication involving sounds like clicks. Who was impacted by the event?
Many people used this type of communication in order to send messages that were not intended to be understood by the majority. -
Babbage's method for breaking polyalphabetic ciphers
Who or what triggered the event?
Charles Babbage was very good at cryptography. This was kept a secret for years. Who was impacted by the event?
When this event became published in 1854, many people were impacted. They were now able to see how the Vigenère cipher functioned. -
The Enigma Rotor Machine
Who or what triggered the event ?
Arthur Scherbius created this device hoping to interest companies in secure communications. Who was impacted by the event ?
Those involved with World War II were impacted by this device. Once they saw that encrypted messages could be sent, they began using this machine. -
Break of Japan's PURPLE machine cipher by SIS team
Who or what triggered the event?
The Army noticed a weak point in the pre-war cipher development of the Japanese Navy. However, the Navy refused to act on this. Who was impacted by the event?
The Japanese Navy was impacted by this due to the fact that there cipher had been broken, and now their messages could be easily decrypted. -
DES published
Who or what triggered the event?
The Data Encryption Standard was created as a response to the National Bureau of Standards searching for the protection of sensitive government data. Who was impacted by the event?
The National Bureau of Standards and the National Security Agency were impacted by this event. The NBS had been looking to adopt a new standard to be used by the government. Because this was published by the NSA, many organization began adopting the DES. -
Pretty Good Privacy
Who or what triggered the event?
This encryption program was created by Phil Zimmermann in order to provide authentication for data communications. Who was impacted by the event?
Anyone who relies on using email as communication was impacted by this development. PGP was primarily used to encrypt and decrypt email messages. -
SSL released by Netscape
Who or what triggered the event?
Security Sockets Layer was created based on the need to establish an encrypted link between the web server and browser. Who was impacted by the event?
This event impacted a lot of people. Anyone that uses the internet has been impacted due to the fact that SSL automatically encrypts usernames and passwords. This information is only available to the user and website. -
CipherSaber
Who or what triggered the event?
This is a symmetric encryption protocol that was developed with the hopes of giving protection of messages. It was also designed to be simple. Who was impacted by the event?
Novice programmers were impacted by this. CipherSaber was simple enough so that they could memorize the algorithm. It was also a nice protocol for people that wanted to communicate privately. -
AES became effective standard
What triggered the event?
This event was triggered due to the need of a standard to replace the DES. The DES was becoming vulnerable to brute-force attacks. Who was impacted by the event?
The federal government and security professionals were impacted by this change of standards. -
Bitcoin Launched
Who or what triggered the event?
This was invented due to the need of having a peer-to-peer system that allows users to exchange a in direct transactions with no middle man. Who was impacted by the event?
Users that wanted to engage in direct transactions with another user were impacted by this system. -
Password Hashing Competiton
Who or what triggered the event?
This competition was announced back in 2013 in order to recognize new password hash functions as new standards. Who was impacted by the event?
Alex Biryukov, Daniel Dinu, and Dmitry Khovratovich were impacted by this competiton. Their key deviation function, Argon2 was the winner of the Password Hashing Competiton.
