About Lesson
Cryptanalysis: Breaking Cryptographic Systems
Cryptanalysis is the study of analyzing and breaking cryptographic systems. While cryptography aims to secure information, cryptanalysis focuses on discovering vulnerabilities in cryptographic algorithms and protocols.
Types of Attacks:
- Ciphertext-Only Attack: The attacker has access only to the ciphertext and attempts to deduce the plaintext or key.
- Known-Plaintext Attack: The attacker knows some plaintext-ciphertext pairs and uses this information to deduce the encryption key.
- Chosen-Plaintext Attack: The attacker can choose plaintexts and obtain their corresponding ciphertexts, using this to find weaknesses in the encryption process.
- Man-in-the-Middle Attack: An attacker intercepts and potentially alters communication between two parties without their knowledge.
Understanding cryptanalysis helps in designing cryptographic systems that are resilient to attacks.