This is a list of important publications in cryptography, organized by field. Some reasons why a particular publication might be regarded as important: *Topic creator – A publication that created a new topic *Breakthrough – A publication that changed scientific knowledge significantly *Influence – A publication which has significantly influenced the world or has had a massive impact on the teaching of cryptography.

Cryptanalysis Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic sec ...

''The index of coincidence and its applications in cryptology''

* Description: Presented the index of coincidence method for codebreaking; number 22 in the

Riverbank Publications The Riverbank Publications are a series of pamphlets written by the people who worked for millionaire George Fabyan in the multi-discipline research facility he built in the early 20th century near Chicago. They were published by Fabyan, often wit ...

series.

''Treatise on the Enigma''

* Description: The breaking of the Enigma.

''The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing''

* Description: Almost nothing had been published in cryptography in several decades and very few non-government researchers were thinking about it. ''The Codebreakers'', a popular and non academic book, made many more people aware and contains a lot of technical information, although it requires careful reading to extract it. Its 1967 appearance was followed by the appearance of many papers over the next few years.

Differential Cryptanalysis of DES-like Cryptosystems

* Description: The method of

differential cryptanalysis Differential cryptanalysis is a general form of cryptanalysis applicable primarily to block ciphers, but also to stream ciphers and cryptographic hash functions. In the broadest sense, it is the study of how differences in information input can aff ...

A new method for known plaintext attack of FEAL cipher

* Description: The method of linear cryptanalysis.

Theory

Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems

* Description:

Information theory Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification (science), quantification, computer data storage, storage, and telecommunication, communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist a ...

based analysis of cryptography. The original form of this paper was a confidential Bell Labs report from 1945, not the one published.

Probabilistic Encryption

* Description: The paper provides a rigorous basis to encryption (e.g., partial information) and shows that it possible to equate the slightest cryptanalysis to solve a pure math problem. Second, it introduces the notion of computational indistinguishability.

Proofs that Yield Nothing But their Validity or All Languages in NP have Zero-Knowledge Proofs

* Description: This paper explains how to construct a zero-knowledge proof system for any language in NP.

Private key cryptography

Cryptographic Coding for Data-Bank Privacy

* Description: Feistel ciphers are a form of cipher of which DES is the most important. It would be hard to overestimate the importance of either Feistel or DES. Feistel pushed a transition from stream ciphers to block ciphers. Although most ciphers operate on streams, most of the important ciphers today are block ciphers at their core.

'' Data Encryption Standard''

* NBS Federal Standard FIPS PUB 46, 15 Jan 1977. Description: DES is not only one of the most widely deployed ciphers in the world but has had a profound impact on the development of cryptography. Roughly a generation of cryptographers devoted much of their time to attacking and improving DES.

Public Key Cryptography

New directions in cryptography

* Description: This paper suggested public key cryptography and presented

Diffie–Hellman key exchange Diffie–Hellman key exchangeSynonyms of Diffie–Hellman key exchange include: * Diffie–Hellman–Merkle key exchange * Diffie–Hellman key agreement * Diffie–Hellman key establishment * Diffie–Hellman key negotiation * Exponential key exc ...

. For more information about this work see: W.Diffie, M.E.Hellman
"Privacy and Authentication: An Introduction to Cryptography"
in Proc. IEEE, Vol 67(3) Mar 1979, pp 397–427.

On the Signature Reblocking Problem in Public Key Cryptography

* Description: In this paper (along with Loren M. Kohnfelder,"Using Certificates for Key Distribution in a Public-Key Cryptosystem", MIT Technical report 19 May 1978), Kohnfelder introduced

certificate Certificate may refer to: * Birth certificate * Marriage certificate * Death certificate * Gift certificate * Certificate of authenticity, a document or seal certifying the authenticity of something * Certificate of deposit, or CD, a financial pro ...

s (signed messages containing public keys) which are the heart of all modern

key management system Key management refers to management of cryptographic keys in a cryptosystem. This includes dealing with the generation, exchange, storage, use, crypto-shredding (destruction) and replacement of keys. It includes cryptographic protocol design, ...

Secure Communications Over Insecure Channels

* Description: This paper introduced a branch of public key cryptography, known as public key distribution systems. Merkle's work predated "New directions in cryptography" though it was published after it. The Diffie–Hellman key exchange is an implementation of such a Merkle system. Hellman himself has argued that a more correct name would be Diffie–Hellman–Merkle key exchange.

A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public Key Cryptosystems

* Description: The

RSA RSA may refer to: Organizations Academia and education * Rabbinical Seminary of America, a yeshiva in New York City *Regional Science Association International (formerly the Regional Science Association), a US-based learned society *Renaissance S ...

encryption method. The first public-key encryption method.

How to Share a Secret

* Description: A safe method for sharing a secret.

On the security of public key protocols

* Description: Introduced the adversarial model against which almost all cryptographic protocols are judged.

Protocols

Using encryption for authentication in large networks of computers

* Description: This paper introduced the basic ideas of cryptographic protocols and showed how both secret-key and public-key encryption could be used to achieve authentication.

Kerberos

* * Description: The Kerberos authentication protocol, which allows individuals communicating over an insecure network to prove their identity to one another in a secure and practical manner.

A Protocol for Packet Network Interconnection

A Dynamic Network Architecture

* Description: Network software in distributed systems.

References

* The Codebreakers *https://users.cs.jmu.edu/abzugcx/public/Cryptology/Journal-Articles-on-Crypto-POSTED.pdf {{Important publications History of computer science Cryptography Cryptography books