Kryptologicum

»Cryptography« is the science of encoding information. It has decided wars, secured atomic rockets during the Cold War and, in more recent times, made online shopping possible. Whereas in past decades and centuries it has been understood as complicated secret coding, today, »cryptography« is the technology of information security for protecting secret data from unauthorized readers or unwanted changes.

With increasing digitalization, calls for a more advanced method for data encryption became louder. With the use of »cryptography«, it was possible to prevent an infringement of sensitive data. However, in that the use of a cryptographic principle is – naturally – based on extremely complicated algorithms, a high degree of expertise continues to be required for its application.

With the exhibition »Kryptologicum«, the Kompetenzzentrum für angewandte Sicherheitstechnologie [Competence Center for Applied Security Technology] (KASTEL) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) seeks to make this theme comprehensible. In collaboration with the ZKM | Karlsruhe, the cryptographic method should be made playfully tangible and experienceable to visitors. With interactive stations the public is invited to come and try out, and be shown, by way of the station »Coin Toss via Telephone«, for example, how »Cryptography« makes possible the apparently impossible. Alongside this, a unique collection has been collated, which provides a historical overview of the theme, and, among others, an »Enigma« machine dating from the Second World War can be seen. With the further development of such historical methods, and the possibility of modern cryptography, the exhibition initiates a critical investigation into present-day IT security.