Scytale

Abstract: Secure communication has been required since thousands of years. This led to the invention of cryptography. In ancient world, primitive methods were adopted for passing messages secretly. But with the invention of internet and world wide web, which is used for communicating via mail, messages, online shopping, online banking, etc., increased the need of information security. Thus a proper understanding of various methods of cryptography and its implementation can fulfill the requirements of securing valuable and sensitive information. This paper takes us through the various methods of cryptography adopted in the ancient period, medieval period and the modern era. General Terms Cryptography, encryption, transposition ciphers, substitution ciphers, ciphertext, hieroglyphs, Atbash, scytale, monoalphabetic, enigma, encryption, rijndael, pseudorandom.