INTRODUCTION It was 1917 and World War I 1914 1918 was raging in Europe British cryptologists pored over the intercepted messages of German soldiers The cryptologists worked together to crack the German code system In January the British intercepted a telegram on its way to Mexico It came from German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann After all their hard work the British cryptologists were able to decode the message The secret it revealed was staggering Zimmermann was offering to help Mexico invade the southern United States Until then the United States had not been involved in World War I But learning of Germany’s offer to Mexico helped convince the United States to join the fight Cryptologists had changed the course of history Arthur Zimmermann 4
The British cryptologists who intercepted the Zimmerman Telegram worked in the Old Admiralty Building in London England 5
CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS CRYPTOLOGY Cryptology is the science of secret communication People called cryptologists have studied and practiced cryptology for thousands of years There are two types of cryptologists cryptographers and cryptanalysts Cryptographers encode or encipher a message to hide its meaning Cryptanalysts decode or decipher a message’s hidden meaning Cryptology was once a mysterious profession Code breakers worked in secret often for governments However the invention of the computer changed cryptology forever Modern cryptologists keep emails texts and online purchases secure In the digital age professional cryptology has become an important and popular career Modern cryptology often involves computer science and math 6
