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If you enjoyed Channel 4s series
on the British attempts to break
the Enigma code in WWII, youll
find this book of interest. The
Code Book is not a cryptographic
cook book, full of recipes for
encryption. Rather, it chronicles
the development of the arts of
codemaking and codebreaking
over the last two thousand years.
From the basic ciphers used by
the Romans to the currently
unbreakable (in real terms) RSA
encryption methods used by
PGP, The Code Book charts the
efforts of cryptographers to
create the unbreakable cipher,
and the equally intensive labours
of the codebreakers to prove
them wrong.
Most chapters devote more
space to the activities of the
codebreakers and the
extraordinary lengths to which
they go to in order to get enough
information to break a code.
For example, the RAF would
mine specific areas of the
Atlantic during WWII so that they
could intercept the warning
messages to the U-boats
knowing locations they would
contain.
The chapters on
public-key cryptography
concentrate on the development
of the technology, since breaking
such ciphers is currently
impossible in practical terms.
Other chapters cover the
interpretation of inadvertent
ciphers, documents written as
plain text in a language or script
long forgotten, such as Egyptian
hieroglyphics.
The book looks at quantum
computers, theoretical machines
that would be able to break any
current encryption. Quantum
physics also provides a means to
an intrinsically unbreakable code,
a method that has already be
used with some success under
test conditions.
This is a book about the
people more than the science,
even though it is written by a
scientist. It looks at the issues
raised by encryption, privacy
versus security. The Code Book
attempts to cover the history
of a technical subject without
getting too technical, and
succeeds. It was an impulse
purchase, spotted while looking
for something else. Im glad I
did spot it.
Originally reviewed in issue 6
by Neil Bothwick.
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