ABSTRACT
All of the preceding sections have led us to what is perhaps the most important component of creating secure environments. This is the study and application of methods to transform information by a secret function so that it will be extremely difficult for an attacker to be able to interpret the message in question.
The approach that is central to this and any course on cybersecurity is known as cryptology, which is in effect a combined term stemming from the study of cryptography (from the Greek κρυπτο [krypto or hidden] and γραϕια [grafia or writing]). The second component of cryptology is the field of cryptanalysis or the study of ways of breaking cryptographic methods. Both fields have an extremely long history far predating the computer era. In fact, one of the earliest cryptographic methods is said to have been invented by Julius Caesar over 2000 years ago.
