CrypTool

CrypTool

E-Learning Program for Cryptology
Developer(s)	Prof. Bernhard Esslinger, University of Darmstadt University of Duisburg-Essen University of Siegen
Stable release	1.4.30 / August 4, 2010
Preview release	CT 2.0 Beta 6 (Oct. 2011) JCT 1.0 RC4
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 concepts.

Features

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 such as RSA, elliptic curve cryptography, digital signatures and Diffie-Hellman key exchange, many of which are visualized by animations. It also contains 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 50 people worldwide contribute regularly to the project. Its role is to make users aware of how cryptography can help against network security threats and to explain the underlying concepts of cryptology.^[1] The software is available in English, German, Polish, Spanish, and Serbian. A project for a Greek version just started.

The current release version, CrypTool 1.4.30 was published in August 2010. It is written in C++ and designed for the Microsoft Windows operating system. A port^[2] of CrypTool 1.x to Linux with Qt4 has started.

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 betas:

• CrypTool 2.0^[3] (built with C#/.NET/WPF) uses the concept of visual programming to clarify cryptographic processes.
• JCrypTool 1.0^[4][5] (built with Java/Eclipse/RCP/SWT) is platform independent and offers both a document-centric and a function-centric perspective.

Awards

CrypTool has received several international awards as an educational program, such as TeleTrusT Special Award 2004, EISA 2004, IT Security Award NRW 2004^[6] and Selected Landmark in the Land of Ideas 2008.^[7]

Use

CrypTool is used in schools, universities, companies and agencies for education and awareness training. Worldwide, the CrypTool 1.x package is downladed more than 6,000 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^[8] and CrypTool Mobile.^[9] These websites allow users to try cryptographic methods directly within a browser or smartphone (using JavaScript), without the need to download and install software. These sites try to present the topic in an easy and attractive way for new users and young people. Advanced tasks still require the offline version of CrypTool.

MysteryTwister C3 (MTC3)

In 2010 an international cipher contest^[10] started which is also part of the CrypTool project. This contest currently offers around 70 challenges concerning old and modern ciphers designed by authors from different countries. At the MTC3 website a moderated forum (with more than 600 posts), user statistics and a hall-of-fame are available. All challenges are presented in PDF templates in English and German. The challenges are clustered in four levels which range from simple riddles solvable with paper-and-pencil to mathematical challenges from modern cryptanalysis for researchers and experts. More than 2000 registered users are engaged solving these challenges.

See also

	Free software portal
	Cryptography portal

• Asymmetric key algorithm
• Topics in cryptography
• Cryptosystem

References and notes

1. ^ CrypTool webpage: CrypTool for Awareness.
2. ^ CrypTooLinux: CrypTooLinux project, porting CT 1.x to Linux.
3. ^ CrypTool 2.0: Developer site of the CT2 project Beta versions are updated as nightly builds.
4. ^ JCrypTool 1.0: SourceForge project of JCT Beta version RC3 is available since July 2010.
5. ^ JCrypTool 1.0: Site of the JCT project
6. ^ secure-it.nrw: Verleihung des »IT-Sicherheitspreis NRW 2004« (German)
7. ^ Germany. Land of Ideas: Ort des Tages: CrypTool, Siegen (German)
8. ^ Online version for browsers: CrypTool Online
9. ^ Online version for smartphones: CrypTool Mobile
10. ^ MysteryTwister C3 (MTC3): International Cipher Contest "MysteryTwister C3" (MTC3)

External links

• The official site
  • CrypTool presentation with more than 100 slides and many screenshots, which presents an overview of the CrypTool project and its features, PDF 6.9 MB.