Cryptography and Cryptanalysis in the Digital Age

Nowadays, everything is tied to the Internet in some way. Tim Berners-Lee's
invention, meant to ease the communication and collaboration inside the CERN
research facility, is now a dominating part of the life of each and every one
of us. Millions of people use it every day to transfer sensitive data, like doing
bank transfers or sharing company documents. If a third party could obtain
this information it would wreak havoc to the companies or individuals aected.
Because of this, there are security measures in place. In fact, they are used in way more areas than previously mentioned, ensuring safe and private
browsing and communication. That is where the main subject of this paper
comes in: Cryptography. Although cryptography was used long before the
Internet, for example Caesar's use of the substitution cipher or the ingenious
Enigma machine used by the Germans in World War II, it is now used all over
the world.

Personally, I'm fascinated by technology in general, but cryptography is
what intrigues me most at the moment. Current implementations combine
mathematics and computer science in a unique way, especially the mechanics
of asymmetric encryption, discussed in section 6, fascinate me.