Cryptography & Steganography

Cryptography is basically the process of scrambling readable information into an unreadable/ fragmented state. It's one of the earliest forms of encryption and was fundamentally designed to ensure that information couldn't be read by anyone other than the sender and the desired  recipient. This is done by ensuring that the sender and recipient share a secret key which is needed to decrypt the data. An example of this is a password for a personal computer, the password is known by the sender (PC) and the recipient (the user), the user has to input this password in order to gain access to the their files. However due to a password having an almost infinite amount of possible combinations this makes it very difficult for a third party who doesn't know the key to gain access.

Steganography is a different type of decryption from Cryptography as a crypto-system doesn't conceal it's true purpose. A cypto system  can be interacted with by anybody however almost impossible to access without the vital key. A Steganography system is different as it aims at concealing the existence of the message all together therefore not attracting the attention of third parties.

 An example of a Steganography encryption method would be writing in invisible ink, the message and method wouldn't be known by third parties however the receiver would have knowledge of the method therefore enabling them to decrypt the message.

Cryptography is the encryption method i'm using for my project as I think a Steganography method  wouldn't be clear to the  audience. The Cryptography method i'm using may seem unfamiliar to the user at first but as they move the trackable objects around and interact with the display they should notice the display reacting to the interaction of the user and as a result understand what they need to do to solve the puzzle. 

The Cryptography method I'm using in my display does consist of a secret key. The secret key consists of five sets of numbers, these numbers can be inputted into the sketch by positioning the trackable objects at certain distances from each other. I believe this cypto-system would be very difficult to decrypt if I didn't provide visual confirmation for each part of the puzzle which is completed.