Auguste Kerckhoffs (19 January 1835 – 9 August 1903) was a Dutch linguist and cryptographer in the late 19th century.
Auguste Kerckhoffs | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 9 August 1903 | (aged 68)
Nationality | Dutch |
Alma mater | University of Liège |
Known for | Kerckhoffs's principle |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Cryptography, linguistics |
Institutions | HEC Paris |
Kerckhoffs was born in Nuth, the Netherlands, as Jean Guillaume Auguste Victor François Hubert Kerckhoffs, son of Jean Guillaume Kerckhoffs, mayor of the village of Nuth, and Jeanette Elisabeth Lintjens.[1] Kerckhoffs studied at the University of Liège.[2] After a period of teaching in schools in the Netherlands and France, he became a professor of German language at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (Paris)[3] and the École Arago.[4]
He is best known today for his two-part paper published in 1883 in Le Journal des Sciences Militaires (Journal of Military Science) entitled La Cryptographie Militaire (Military Cryptography). These articles surveyed the then state-of-the-art in military cryptography, and made a plea for considerable improvements in French practice. They also included many pieces of practical advice and rules of thumb, including six principles of practical cipher design:[5]
The best-known is the second of his six principles, also known as Kerckhoffs's principle. It can be understood as the idea that the security of a cryptosystem must depend only on the key, and not on the secrecy of the algorithm used for encryption or any other part of the system.[6]
In 1885, Dr. Kerckhoffs became interested in the constructed language Volapük, and for several years was a leading member of the Volapük movement, and Director of the Academy of Volapük. He published several books on the subject and introduced the movement to France, Spain, and Scandinavia through a series of public lectures.[7]