Entering the digital age

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, computers started populating offices, industry, and government organizations. It soon became apparent that it was necessary to protect data in some way from prying eyes.

However, several decades earlier, the concept of encrypting data was already in the works. In this section, we'll learn how Claude Shannon, an American mathematician and cryptographer, outlined how to encrypt digital data. We'll then examine the beginnings of the DES, with the development of the Feistel and Lucifer ciphers in the 1970s, as scientists recognized the need to secure digital data.

Let's begin by learning about Shannon and his contributions to the field of computing and cryptography.

Innovating in the field of computing

In 1941, Claude Shannon was a young scientist working at Bell Telephone Laboratories (Bell Labs). Shannon worked at Bell Labs conducting research on Boolean algebra and circuit switching. The research would...