• EDUCATE
    EDUCATE

    ...our citizens to be cyber smart, and develop pathways for the future cyber workforce.

  • ENGAGE
    ENGAGE

    ...and convene partners to address emerging cyber and cryptologic issues.

  • COMMEMORATE
    COMMEMORATE

    ...our cryptologic history & those who served within the cryptologic community.

THE NCF VISION

Advance the nation’s interest in cyber and cryptology through leadership, education, and partnerships.

1983: Three Inventors Receive Patent for Encryption Algorithm RSA

Monday, September 20, 2021

20 September 1983: Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman received a patent for the encryption algorithm RSA (named after the inventors). Pictured in the photo - left to right: Adi Shamir, Ron Rivest, and Len Adleman. Photo courtesy of Dan Wright's RSA Algorithm course on imps.mcmaster.ca.

Excerpt from "RSA Public Key Encryption": U.S. Patent 4,405,829 was awarded to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on September 20, 1983 for its "Cryptographic communications system and method." The three inventors, which the patent is named after, are Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman. The patent expires 17 years from the date it was issued, Sept 21, 2000.

The RSA cryptosystem, as described in the patent, is a public-key cryptosystem that offers both encryption and digital signatures. The cryptosystem is able to encrypt and create digital signatures by taking advantage of the fact that factoring is a "hard" mathematical problem. Factoring is actually one of three commonly used "hard problems" for cryptography; the other two are the discrete logarithm problem and elliptic curves.

The RSA cryptosystem has been incorporated into popular products such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Secure Shell (SSH) as well as numerous other commercial products.

In 2002, the Association for Computing Machinery awarded Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman the Turing Award - also known as the "Nobel Prize of Computing." LEARN MORE

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  • The first hire at SIS was Annie Louise Newkirk, hired as a cryptographic clerk. Interesting note, when a phone call came in for someone working in the vault room, Ms. Newkirk would buzz the back room using a Morse code equivalent for the first initial of the individual's name. In honor of Women's History Month - click to learn about more female cryptologic pioneers!

About Us

The NCF's Vision is to strengthen trust in the digital ecosystem.

The NCF Mission: Advance the nation’s interest in cyber and cryptology as we:

Educate citizens to be cyber smart individuals, 

Develop pathways for the future cyber and cryptologic workforce, 

Engage and convene partners to address emerging cyber and cryptologic issues and, 

Commemorate our cryptologic history and those who served. 

The Foundation provides exceptional cryptologic programs, encourages young minds to learn about cryptology and to explore cyber-related career opportunities, hosts educational, cryptology-related exhibits at various community events, and honors the people— past and present—whose contributions to our national security protect and make possible our way of life.

The NCF also provides needed support to the National Cryptologic Museum (NCM), the first public museum in the U.S. Intelligence Community. Located adjacent to the National Security Agency (NSA) in Maryland, the NCM houses a unique and priceless collection of artifacts that represent our Nation's history in code making and code breaking, as well as a world class library of cryptologic media. The NCF has acquired rare and invaluable artifacts for the Museum and helps to support new educational and interactive exhibits.

The NCF is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Learn more about our MISSION, VISION, and VALUES.