Cryptography is an extremely important field in modern information security, but this website diverges from today's high-tech methods to look at the historical use and development of cryptographic ciphers. Two interesting stories about Edgar Allen Poe and Julius Caesar describe the work in cryptography done by these two notable figures. Several famous ciphers are described, including the simple...

This companion site to the Nova episode "Decoding Nazi Secrets," broadcast this month on PBS, provides substantial essays on codebreaking and making, encryption on the Web, the mechanics of the Nazi's encoder Enigma, the personalities and genius of the men who cracked its code, and opportunities for users to code their own messages or participate in a codecracking contest (November 5-19)....