Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems

"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. His work has been described as a "turning point, and marked the closure of classical cryptography and the beginning 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 formerly classified report A Mathematical Theory of Cryptography, Memorandum MM 45-110-02, Sept. 1, 1945, Bell Laboratories. This report also precedes the publication of his "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", which appeared in 1948.

See also

• Confusion and diffusion
• Product cipher
• One-time pad
• Unicity distance

Notes

References

• Shannon, Claude. "Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems", Bell System Technical Journal, vol. 28(4), page 656–715, 1949.
• Shannon, Claude. "A Mathematical Theory of Cryptography", Memorandum MM 45-110-02, Sept. 1, 1945, Bell Laboratories.
• https://www.itsoc.org/about/shannon

External links

• Online retyped copy of the paper Archived 2007-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
• Scanned version of the published BSTJ paper

1. Secrecy
2. Communication theory
3. Timeline of information theory
4. Claude Shannon
5. Confusion and diffusion
6. Index of information theory articles
7. Round (cryptography)
8. Product cipher
9. Information-theoretic security
10. One-time pad
11. Cipher
12. Unicity distance
13. Communication privacy management theory
14. Deniable encryption
15. Kerckhoffs's principle
16. History of cryptography
17. Gilbert Vernam
18. Block cipher
19. Semantic security
20. Outline of cryptography