AboutCryptology It is nowwidelyperceivedthatweareexperiencinganinformationrevolution whose e?ects will ultimately be as pervasive and profound as was brought by the industrial revolution of the last century. From the beginning of time, information has been an important asset for humans. In the early days of humanexistence,themereknowledgeofwheretomosteasilygatherfoodwas the di?erence between life and death. Throughout history, information has provided the means for winning wars, making fortunes, and shaping history. The underlying theme of the information revolution is that we continue to ?nd new ways to use information. These new uses for information serve to highlight our need to protect di?erent aspects of information. Cryptology may be broadly de?ned as the scienti?c study of adversarial information protection. Cryptology has traditionally dealt with the co- dentiality of information, but innovation in using information produces new requirements for protection of that information. Some are longstanding and fundamental - how do we guarantee that information is "authentic"? How do we guarantee that information is timely?
How can we produce bits that have the same properties as "money"? Each of these questions has been grappled with in the cryptologic research community.