title: Cryptography: A Very Short Introduction
author: Fred Piper
description: `a perfect pocket primer for anybody interested in cryptography.'<br />Simon Singh
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  Cryptography 
   
   
   
  i 
   
  About the Tutorial 
  This tutorial covers the basics of the science of cryptography. It explains how programmers 
  and network professionals can use cryptography to maintain the privacy of computer data. 
  Starting with the origins of cryptography, it moves on to explain cryptosystems, various 
  traditional and modern ciphers, public key encryption, data integration, message 
  authentication, and digital signatures. 
  Audience 
  This tutorial is meant for students of computer science who aspire to learn the basics of 
  cryptography. It will be useful for networking professionals as well who would like to 
  incorporate various cryptographic algorithms to ensure secure data communication over 
  their networks. 
  Prerequisites 
  This tutorial has been prepared with the view to make it useful for almost anyone who is 
  curious about cryptography. A basic knowledge of computer science and a secondary level 
  of mathematics knowledge is sufficient to make the most of this t