CrypTool

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CrypTool

E-Learning Program for Cryptology
Developer(s) Prof. Bernhard Esslinger,
- University of Darmstadt
- University of Duisburg-Essen
- University of Kassel / Applied Information Security
- University of Siegen
Stable release 1.4.30 / August 4, 2010
Preview release CT 1.4.31 Beta 6b (October 2013)
CT 2.0 Beta 10 (October 2013)
JCT 1.0 RC7 (December 2013)
Operating system Microsoft Windows
Type Cryptology, Privacy, E-Learning
License Apache Licence 2.0
Website www.cryptool.org

CrypTool is an open source e-learning tool illustrating cryptographic and cryptanalytic concepts.

CrypTool implements more than 200 algorithms.[1] Users can adjust these with own parameters. The graphical interface, online documentation, analytic tools and algorithms of CrypTool introduce users to the field of cryptography. Classical ciphers are available alongside asymmetric cryptography including RSA, elliptic curve cryptography, digital signatures, homomorphic encrytion, and Diffie-Hellman key exchange, many of which are visualized by animations.
CrypTool also contains some didactical games, and an animated tutorial about primes and elementary number theory.

Development, history and roadmap

The development of CrypTool started in 1998. Originally developed by German companies and universities, it is now an open source project. More than sixty people worldwide contribute regularly to the project. Contributions as software plugins came e.g. from universities or schools in the following towns: Belgrad, Berlin, Bochum, Brisbane, Darmstadt, Dubai, Duisburg-Essen, Eindhoven, Hagenberg, Jena, Kassel, Klagenfurth, Koblenz, London, Madrid, Mannheim, San Jose, Siegen, Utrecht, Warsaw.
The goal of the CrypTool project is to make users aware of how cryptography can help against network security threats and to explain the underlying concepts of cryptology.[2] The software is available in English, German, Polish, Spanish, and Serbian. A project for a Greek version was begun in October 2011.

The current release version of CrypTool 1, CrypTool 1.4.30, was published in August 2010. It is written in C++ and designed for the Microsoft Windows operating system. A port of CrypTool 1.x to Linux with Qt4 was started, but currently there is no progress.[3]

In 2007, development began on two additional projects, both based on a pure-plugin architecture, to serve as successors to the original CrypTool program. Both successors regularly publish new stable betas:

  • CrypTool 2.0[4][5] (built with C#/.NET/WPF)
    uses the concept of visual programming to clarify cryptographic processes. Currently CT2 contains more than 100 crypto functions.
  • JCrypTool 1.0[6][7] (built with Java/Eclipse/RCP/SWT)
    runs on Windows, MacOS, and Linux, and offers both a document-centric and a function-centric perspective. Currently JCT contains more than 100 crypto functions.

Awards

CrypTool has received several international awards as an educational program, such as the TeleTrusT Special Award 2004, EISA 2004, IT Security Award NRW 2004,[8] and Selected Landmark in the Land of Ideas 2008 award.[9]

Use

CrypTool is used in schools, universities, companies and agencies for education and awareness training.[10]

Worldwide, the CrypTool 1.x package is downloaded more than 6000 times per month from the CrypTool website. Just over 50% of the downloads are for the English version.

CrypTool Online

The CrypTool project also includes the websites CrypTool Online[11] and CrypTool Mobile.[12] These websites allow users to try cryptographic methods directly within a browser on a PC or a smartphone (using JavaScript), without the need to download and install software. These two sites aim to present the topic in an easy and attractive way for new users and young people.[13] Advanced tasks still require the offline versions of CrypTool.

MysteryTwister C3 (MTC3)

In 2010, an international cipher contest started as part of the CrypTool project.[14] The contest currently offers more than 150 challenges derived from old and modern ciphers and designed by more than 30 different authors from different countries. All challenges are presented in PDF templates in English and German. The challenges are clustered in four levels of difficulty, which range from simple riddles solvable with paper-and-pencil to mathematical challenges from modern cryptanalysis for researchers and experts. Additionally, a moderated forum, user statistics and a hall-of-fame are available. Currently, more than 4000 registered users are engaged in solving these challenges.

See also

  • Asymmetric key algorithm
  • Topics in cryptography
  • Cryptosystem

References

  1. ↑ Algorithms: Functions in different CrypTool versions Within a table all functions implemented are listed. This list can be adjusted using categories, search phrases and by specifying the CT versions.
  2. ↑ CrypTool webpage: CrypTool for Awareness.
  3. ↑ CrypTooLinux project, porting CT 1.x to Linux.
  4. ↑ CrypTool 2.0: Developer site of the CT2 project Beta versions are updated as nightly builds.
  5. ↑ CrypTool 2.0: Facebook Site of the CT2 project
  6. ↑ JCrypTool 1.0: GitHub project of JCT Beta versions are updated as weekly builds.
  7. ↑ JCrypTool 1.0: Site of the JCT project
  8. ↑ secure-it.nrw: Verleihung des »IT-Sicherheitspreis NRW 2004« (German)
  9. ↑ Germany. Land of Ideas: Ort des Tages: CrypTool, Siegen (German)
  10. ↑ Overview presentation given 2013 at Finse
  11. ↑ CrypTool Online
  12. ↑ CrypTool Mobile
  13. ↑ "The CrypTool project -- The best way, to learn and apply cryptography" – Article in Hackin9 by Arkadius Litwinczuk, March 2011, page 10-14 (PDF 6.1 MB)
  14. ↑ International Cipher Contest "MysteryTwister C3" (MTC3)

External links

 
Cryptographic software
Email (OpenPGP and S/MIME)
Instant messaging and Voice over IP
Disk encryption
Anonymity
SSH
TLS & SSL
VPN
File systems (list)
E-learning
Related topics
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