Enciphered clay tablet(1500 BC)	Early cipher disk
Famous Zimmerman coded telegram	Sample of modern encrypted text

A Brief History of Secret Code Breaking video begins with a recent terrorist plot that was thwarted by breaking into encrypted files on a laptop obtained during a criminal arrest and then goes back to the beginnings of using secret coded messages.

From that beginning, more than 2,000 years ago, it highlights the major events and turning points in the history of making and breaking secret coded messages. These events and more are described in the Secret Code Breaker series of books including computer programs that assist the code breaker in learning how to break many of these codes.