Information security is an intergral part of of your daily life on the internet, whether you know it or not. Information transmitted via wireless and cable is encrypted, and follows security protocols. Without these security precautions information you transmit would be readily available to anyone observing your internet traffic. Common encryption methods include public key encryption and stream encryption. Common protocols include WPA, WEP, and others you would use every day.
Cryptography has a prolific history, spanning most of ancient time. The field of modern cryptography and cryptanalysis is young compared to other fields, as it's birth paralleled the development of computing technology. Throughout history people have needed to disguise their information so that it could travel safely. Roman's used the Caesar cipher, in which each letter of a message was changed for the letter three spaces ahead. In this manner, A became C, and so on for every letter. Various other methods existed spanning different civilizations, and you can take a look at this site I found, some of which are very interesting and worth checking out.
The reason I described cryptography's history in such endearing terms is because the contributions of allied code breakers to the effort in WWII, by some accounts , may have won them the war. As a result, cryptography and cryptoanlysis were held in high esteem in post WWII times, and became funded and regarded as legitimate fields. The NSA was established to further research cryptography and cryptanalysis method in the United States, and in post WWII times was the primary establishment for these fields.
Today computer security is vital. Encryption methods developed by brilliant minds such as Adi Shamir are used in WEP, the most commonly used encryption method for wireless networks. The interest in security comes from both sides of the coin, as for every defense built, there is an attacker in mind. People are constantly exploring encryption methods and security protocols to find vulnerabilities, either to be exploited or for academic purposes. The class I took recently on information security was very well rounded, and I owe a lot of my interest in the subject to my teachers, Tom Austin and Mark Stampp. Their approach to the subject explored both the attackers mindset and the defenders, and gave us a more versatile understanding of the subject.
Sources:
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=9722
http://users.telenet.be/d.rijmenants/en/timeline.htm
http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=372
http://www.cypher.com.au/crypto_history.htm
http://cryptozine.blogspot.com/2008/05/brief-history-of-cryptography.html
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