A Code Rediscovered

Cryptology is an ever-expanding, constantly broadening subject that seems to become more complex as time goes on. That is why when I read this New York Times article, I was surprised to discover that a certain type of cryptography was discovered much earlier than originally published. It is a rather difficult type of cipher, which is why it is not used often, but it is very reliable and near impossible to break. The credit was given to the wrong people, as the original creator of the code never officially published his work. Steven Bellovin, a professor at Columbia and computer researcher, stumbled across a book with 'secrecy' in the title and discovered that the "one-time pad encryption" was credited to the wrong cryptographers. Though it seems like there are always new codes and patterns being created, sometimes it's the classic systems that are the most reliable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/science/26code.html?_r=1&ref=cryptography