Information has always been a valuable resource. For thousands of years, codemakers have struggled to hide secrets—and codebreakers have worked just as hard to find them. Codes have decided the results of wars and the fates of kings and queens, who historically relied on secret communication to keep sensitive messages out of the wrong hands.
As the value of information increases and new methods of communication arise, the process of securing messages and data will play an even more important role in our lives. Now codes have moved from arcane knowledge that militaries and governments guard to tools that individuals and businesses use every day.
With computers playing an essential role in the modern struggle between codebreakers and codemakers, the stakes for all of us are very high. Learn about the war on secrets in our Instaread on The Code Book.
