Perspectives and Security Infrastructure

Differing perspectives

It should already be clear that there is a need for translation of the basic security mechanisms used in the physical world into mechanisms suitable for application in an electronic environment. In essence, this is what modern cryptography is all about. We aim to demonstrate precisely what role cryptography plays in this translation process.

First, let’s understand in a broad sense how cryptography fulfills a role in the provision of information security. Below, we identify three different perspectives on the use of cryptography. The vested interests that these represent, and some of the resulting conflicts, have helped shape the modern use of cryptography.