Mathematical problems in cryptology (Q1910812)

The paper contains a wide ranging survey of the problems of interest in modern cryptography. Beginning with some historical background and terminology, it gives a brief description of data encryption standard (DES) and public key cryptography, including systems based on knapsacks, the linear code system of McEliece and systems based on formal language theory and on partially linear transformations. The RSA system is also described. The wide variety of cryptographic protocols available, including threshold schemes, resiliency, contract signing, identification and many others, are noted. The role of complexity theory in cryptography is discussed with particular attention to the characteristics of one-way functions. The existence of secure pseudorandom generators is considered. Sections on the notions of probabilistic encryption, cryptographic security and NP-completeness and zero-knowledge proofs conclude the paper. One hundred and sixty references are included. 169 Refs.