New Directions in Cryptography

Short Description
order to use cryptography to insure privacy, however, it is ….. requiring no new development in cryptography itself, but …

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Content
644 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. IT-22, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 1976
New Directions in Cryptography
Invited Paper
WHITFIELD DIFFIE AND MARTIN E. HELLMAN, MEMBER, IEEE
Abstract-Two kinds of contemporary developments in cryptography
are examined. Widening applications of teleprocessing
have given rise to a need for new types of cryptographic systems,
which minimize the need for secure key distribution channels and
supply the equivalent of a written signature. This paper suggests
ways to solve these currently open problems. It also discusses how
the theories of communication and computation are beginning to
provide the tools to solve cryptographic problems of long standing.
I. INTRODUCTION
W E STAND TODAY on the brink of a revolution in
cryptography. The development of cheap digital
hardware has freed it from the design limitations of mechanical
computing and brought the cost of high grade
cryptographic devices down to where they can be used in
such commercial applications as remote cash dispensers
and computer terminals. In turn, such applications create
a need for new types of cryptographic systems which
minimize the necessity of secure key distribution channels
and supply the equivalent of a written signature. At the
same time, theoretical developments in information theory
and…