Project SherlockEst. Knowledge

Paper

1949

Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems

Claude Shannon

Puts cryptography on a mathematical footing and proves the one-time pad is the only perfectly secret cipher.

Before you start

Assumes: probability, and ideally Shannon's information paper first — this one leans on it throughout

Read these first

Not a difficulty warning — a route. These are in the library too.

A Mathematical Theory of CommunicationClaude Shannon, 1948Defines information quantitatively and proves the limits of compression and error-free transmission over noisy channels.

Filed under Security & Cryptography in Computer Science.