Dancing with cyber secrets

Did you know that Mary Queen of Scots was trapped by her own cipher, which Elizabeth I, used to put her to death? Or that Julius Caesar was so fascinated with secret writing that the first documented use of a cipher for military purposes is credited to him? But it is true, because Simon Sez so. Ever since Simon Singh, nuclear physicist turned cryptologist, wrote his second book `The Code Book', the best part of the world of encryptions has decided that if Simon Sez, it must be right. This acclaimed expert on cryptology meanders through Chennai, unscrambling secrets, and talking about the battle between code makers and breakers on the internet as Ramya Kannan listens on.

SIMON SINGH

SIMON SINGH, or should we say, Dr. Simon Singh's parents migrated from Punjab to Britain in the 1950s. Living his life almost entirely in UK, Simon now has a British accent and an interesting haircut. ``Oh well, that's old fashioned. An old man trying to pretend to be young'' he says. He certainly doesn't look old, but if he is, there are indeed a great many things he has done.

To begin, at what seems like the beginning would be a good idea. After receiving his Ph.D in particle physics at Cambridge University and at CERN, Geneva, Simon strayed to Mathematics. `Fermat's Last Theorem', his first book dealt with what has been called the world's most notorious mathematical problem.

This book, is extremely significant to his present work, in that it was the spark that set him on his cryptographic mission. ``The good thing about cryptography is that everybody loves secrets'', Simon says. And for those who argue that cryptography does not extend beyond aesthetic curiosity, well, think again. How private was the last e-mail you sent?

An argument that The Code Book advances. Cryptography is more important than ever in this information age and the only way to protect information is to encrypt it. But listen to it from the horse's mouth: ``E- mail is not like sending a letter, which is sealed in a cover. Anybody can intercept it. So we must encrypt it.''

To Simon, encryption has become very significant with the e- commerce revolution. This is the question he asks, `` How can you sell something through the computer, unless you can assure that nobody will tamper with the details?''. It is more difficult to convince people that they are safe with transactions on the net. ``When people lock a car, they can see it, but they cannot always see it on a browser. Sometimes a padlock appears on screen, but not always'', he says.

And if it is difficult to convince individuals, it is a greater task to impress nations. But the logistics of commerce has finally converted them. Countries are coming to terms with the necessity of encryptions, each catching up with the other, at their own pace. ``Encryptions are not only about privacy, but also about integrity, non- repudiation and digital authentication'', Simon says, indicating that all that is essential in a non-virtual transaction has to be made possible in virtual business as well.

Here in Chennai, he meets with the desi digital locksmiths, Odyssey Technologies, and that mutual admiration society is formed. Mr. Robert Raja, of Odyssey, cryptologist in his own right, throws a party for the man who admires technologists who actually write the codes. As the two put their heads together, a different kind of code gets written. Who is going to interpret this one?

``Encryptions are not only about privacy, but also about integrity, non-repudiation and digital authentication.''

Photo: S. R. Raghunathan

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