General Information about Cryptography

Piller, Ernst; Schölnast, Hubert

doi:10.1007/978-3-032-24764-3_2

Content of this chapter

Chapter 2 · General Information about Cryptography

This chapter establishes the cryptographic background needed for the rest of the book. It explains confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity and contrasts conventional mathematical cryptography with physical methods that are considered when trust in computational hardness assumptions is not sufficient. The chapter also clarifies that rejecting some mathematical assumptions does not mean eliminating all mathematics from a practical system.

A major focus is the relation between physical key generation and symmetric cryptography. QKD, RKD, and MKD generate or distribute symmetric key material, so their practical value depends on how that material is used for encryption, integrity protection, authentication, and post-processing. The chapter discusses why key rates and the availability of fresh secret bits influence which encryption methods are realistic.

The chapter prepares the reader for the later comparison by separating several layers: the physical method that creates key material, the mathematical processing needed to reconcile or amplify it, and the cryptographic mechanisms that consume it. This distinction is essential for evaluating physical methods honestly, because weaknesses may arise in implementation, post-processing, or operational integration rather than in the physical principle alone.

Defines confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity
Contrasts mathematical and physical security arguments
Explains the symmetric-key role of QKD, RKD, and MKD
Introduces post-processing as a security-relevant layer
Prepares the evaluation criteria used in later chapters

Suggested citation

Reference in IEEE style

E. Piller and H. Schölnast, “General Information about Cryptography,” in Data Encryption at the Intersection of Mathematics and Physics: Comparing Physical Methods of Cryptography. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Cham, 2026, doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-24764-3_2.

Reference in ACM style

Ernst Piller and Hubert Schölnast. 2026. General Information about Cryptography. In Data Encryption at the Intersection of Mathematics and Physics: Comparing Physical Methods of Cryptography. Springer Cham, Cham, Switzerland. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-24764-3_2

BibTeX entry

@incollection{piller_schoelnast_2026_chapter_2_general_information,
  title     = {General Information about Cryptography},
  author    = {Ernst Piller and Hubert Schölnast},
  booktitle = {Data Encryption at the Intersection of Mathematics and Physics: Comparing Physical Methods of Cryptography},
  publisher = {Springer Cham},
  series    = {SpringerBriefs in Information Security and Cryptography},
  year      = {2026},
  doi       = {10.1007/978-3-032-24764-3_2},
  url       = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-24764-3_2},
  language  = {en}
}

RIS entry

TY  - CHAP
TI  - General Information about Cryptography
T2  - Data Encryption at the Intersection of Mathematics and Physics: Comparing Physical Methods of Cryptography
AU  - Piller, Ernst
AU  - Schölnast, Hubert
PY  - 2026
PB  - Springer Cham
T3  - SpringerBriefs in Information Security and Cryptography
DO  - 10.1007/978-3-032-24764-3_2
UR  - https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-24764-3_2
LA  - en
ER  -

CSL JSON entry

{
  "type": "chapter",
  "id": "piller-schoelnast-2026-chapter-2-general-information",
  "title": "General Information about Cryptography",
  "author": [
    {
      "family": "Piller",
      "given": "Ernst"
    },
    {
      "family": "Schölnast",
      "given": "Hubert"
    }
  ],
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2026,
        6,
        19
      ]
    ]
  },
  "container-title": "Data Encryption at the Intersection of Mathematics and Physics: Comparing Physical Methods of Cryptography",
  "publisher": "Springer Cham",
  "collection-title": "SpringerBriefs in Information Security and Cryptography",
  "DOI": "10.1007/978-3-032-24764-3_2",
  "URL": "https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-24764-3_2",
  "language": "en"
}