Cryptography /

Cryptography (or cryptology; from Greek κρυπτός, kryptos, "hidden, secret"; and γράφειν, graphein, "writing", or -λογία, -logia, "study", respectively) is the practice and study of hiding information. Modern cryptography intersects the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering. Applications of cryptography include ATM cards, computer passwords, and electronic commerce. Cryptology prior to the modern age was almost synonymous with encryption, the conversion of information from a readable state to apparent nonsense. The sender retained the ability to decrypt the information and therefore avoid unwanted persons being able to read it. Since WWI and the advent of the computer, the methods used to carry out cryptology have become increasingly complex and its application more widespread. Modern cryptography follows a strongly scientific approach, and designs cryptographic algorithms around computational hardness assumptions, making such algorithms hard to break by an adversary. Such systems are not unbreakable in theory but it is infeasible to do so by any practical means. These schemes are therefore computationally secure.