Discuss the issues with the Case of Mary, Queen of Scots including the factors related to the encryption methods, the failures of Mary and her cohorts, the importance of this case to the field of encryption, and the lessons of the case.

Information on the Case:

In an attempt to dethrone the English queen Elizabeth, Mary who was the queen of Scotland (and Elizabeths cousin) had used spies, intrigue and cryptography to plot and execute a failed plan. The conspiracy involved Mary and a group of Catholic nobleman who wanted to take the crown from the Protestant Elizabeth. The key prosecutor and investigator was Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeths principal secretary, who had caught the conspiracy in mid-execution and had used deception to set up Mary for failure. Mary and her co-conspirators had used encoded letters and messages to communicate, but Walsingham had a secret weapon in the form of Mr. Thomas Phelippes, the nations foremost expert on codes. Marys life hung in the balance if Phelippes could break her coded messages, she would be convicted and die if not, the conspirators would most likely go free. Before getting into the intrigue of this famous cryptology based case, we must first exam the beginnings of cryptology, its growth, and definitions.

The Beginning: Most historians believe that the earliest uses of encryption can be traced to Herodotus who was known as the father of history. He was a Greek historian who wrote of the wars between Greece and Persia in the fifth century and the first known use of hidden messaging by Demaratus, a Greek citizen who used deception to warn Sparta of an impending invasion by the Persian leader, Xerxes. He used a simple method of scraping wax from a pair of wooden folding tables, writing his message on the underneath section of the tables, and covering them over with wax again. On the other end, the Greeks figured out that by removing the wax they would see the message. The result was that Greece armed for the attack and prepared to trap the larger Persian fleet as it entered the bay. The resulting battle was a total victory for Greece.

This secret way of communicating by hiding a message in the open became known as Steganography, taken from the Greek words steganos (covered) and graphein (to write). This form of cryptography has been used throughout modern history, often for extraordinary effect and success. The Chinese had an odd method of using a tiny ball covered in wax was that was swallowed by a messenger (ugh!) and the Italians used hard-boiled eggs with hidden ink that penetrated the hard shell but could be read after the shell was broken away. As stated, Steganography has a history of success, but it also has been extraordinarily flawed in the fact that if it is found, it is not encrypted and the message is in plain text so it can easily be read by anyone who does find it. This is Steganographys greatest weakness.

As a result, the science of cryptography evolved to start looking for ways to actually hide the message in the open without being concerned about it being intercepted and decoded. Cryptography derives its meaning from the Greek word Kryptos (hidden) and signified the most important adjustment in the evolution of this science.

There have been many examples of history where both Cryptology and Steganography were used simultaneously. Not only did the sender wish to keep the message from being read, but also to hide the message and keep it from being found. One example of the Code Book is the use of microdots in letters during WWII.