Cryptology, Cryptography, and Cryptanalysis – Get your Vocabulary Straight!
Tags: bitcoin, cryptography, programming, security
Published: 2019-12-16 19:03:57

---
title: Cryptology, Cryptography, and Cryptanalysis – Get your Vocabulary Straight!
published: true
date: 2019-12-16 19:02:31 UTC
tags: Bitcoin,Cryptography,Programming,Security
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![](https://qvault.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/e2ccd365950e1e853a2c3a4f27d8b92c.jpg)<figcaption>Imitation Game – Story of Turing</figcaption>

Many new developers are jumping right into coding (usually for those fat paychecks) without learning much about the history of Computer Science. Alan Turing, regarded as the father of Computer Science, was first a cryptologist and mathematician and pioneered the field of CS in order to solve cryptological problems.

![](https://qvault.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/00overlooked-alanturing-3-facebookJumbo-1024x536.jpg)<figcaption>Alan Turing</figcaption>

In this article, I will go over common crypto-related definitions for those who may be unfamiliar.

## Cryptology

> The scientific study of cryptography and cryptanalysis.
> 
> <cite> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cryptology">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cryptology</a> </cite>

Cryptology is the science of secret messages. Anything that has to do with making or breaking codes falls into cryptology’s domain.

## Cryptography

> Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries.
> 
> <cite> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptography">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptography</a> </cite>

Cryptography is often lazily used in place of the word cryptology, but in reality, cryptography focuses only on **creating** secure cryptosystems. For example, the design of RSA would have been cryptography work.

## Cryptanalysis

> Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic security systems and gain access to the contents of encrypted messages, even if the cryptographic key is unknown.
> 
> <cite> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis</a> </cite>

Cryptanalysis is the inverse of cryptography, this is, the study of how to **break** secret codes, not make them. Having a solid understanding of cryptanalysis is fundamental in cryptography however, as one must know their enemy.

## Honorable Mention – Cryptocurrency

> A  **cryptocurrency** is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses strong cryptography to secure financial transactions, control the creation of additional units, and verify the transfer of assets.
> 
> <cite> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency</a> </cite>

In the past few years, the slang term “_crypto_” has been hijacked. It used to mean _cryptography_ or _cryptanalysis_ but has recently come to be understood as _cryptocurrency_.

Cryptocurrencies such as [Bitcoin](https://bitcoin.org/en/) utilize cryptographic techniques to securely transfer digital assets without a central authority.

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