History of Information Security -- part 2

The Development of Information Security

The second era of Information Security was Modern Time Encryption. During this period, people began to encrypt information by machine. For example, Enigma was invented in 1919. The improvement of technology brought us advanced electronic machine which increased the efficiency a lot. However, people just changed the way of encryption from hand-writing to machine. The method of encryption was still the same. Basic function of encryption was still a simple substitution cipher.


Then comes to the third era – Modern Encryption. In 1937, the “father of Computer Science” Alan Turing invented “Alan Turing’s theory of digital computing” which made human beings master the basic ideas of AI. In 1945, John von Neumann invented the logical system of computer. Then, the first electronic general-purpose computer ENIAC was announced in 1946. The invention of computer gave humans more options to store the information. Moreover, Claude Elwood Shannon, American mathematician, founded information theory with a landmark paper in 1948. This theory gave information security a theory support.


The forth era was Network Security. The Advanced Research Projects Agency within the U.S. Department of Defense developed the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) which was one of the progenitors of what was to become the global internet. The development of internet was a huge improvement for human to concern about information security becausewe could attach to any piece of information on the internet. In 1972, IBM invented Data Encryption Standard which was the first time people use computer algorithm to encrypt information. In 1991, the internet was introduced to the public. Then in 2002, U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology invented advanced encryption standard which is now widely used in the world. With the development of internet and the increasing of the population using internet, the theory of information has been more and more specific. In this era, people began to use internet to communicate and the encryption standard to protect the information.

We not only have advanced encryption standard now, but also have advanced networking and planning to nip the attacking in the bud.