Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems
Encyclopedia
Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems is a paper published in 1949 by Claude Shannon discussing cryptography
from the viewpoint of information theory
. It is one of the foundational treatments (arguably the foundational treatment) of modern cryptography. It is also a proof that all theoretically unbreakable ciphers must have the same requirements as the one-time pad
.
Shannon published an earlier version of this research in the classified report A Mathematical Theory of Cryptography, Memorandum MM 45-110-02, Sept. 1, 1945, Bell Laboratories. This classified report also precedes the publication of his "A Mathematical Theory of Communication
", which appeared in 1948.
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
from the viewpoint of information theory
Information theory
Information theory is a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering involving the quantification of information. Information theory was developed by Claude E. Shannon to find fundamental limits on signal processing operations such as compressing data and on reliably storing and...
. It is one of the foundational treatments (arguably the foundational treatment) of modern cryptography. It is also a proof that all theoretically unbreakable ciphers must have the same requirements as the one-time pad
One-time pad
In cryptography, the one-time pad is a type of encryption, which has been proven to be impossible to crack if used correctly. Each bit or character from the plaintext is encrypted by a modular addition with a bit or character from a secret random key of the same length as the plaintext, resulting...
.
Shannon published an earlier version of this research in the classified report A Mathematical Theory of Cryptography, Memorandum MM 45-110-02, Sept. 1, 1945, Bell Laboratories. This classified report also precedes the publication of his "A Mathematical Theory of Communication
A Mathematical Theory of Communication
"A Mathematical Theory of Communication" is an influential 1948 article by mathematician Claude E. Shannon. As of November 2011, Google Scholar has listed more than 48,000 unique citations of the article and the later-published book version...
", which appeared in 1948.