The application CrypTool is a free e-learning application for Windows. You can use it to apply and analyze cryptographic algorithms. The current version of CrypTool is used all over the world. It supports both contemporary teaching methods at schools and universities as well as awareness training for employees.
The current version offers beside others the following highlights:
* Numerous classic and modern cryptographic algorithms (encryption and decryption, key generation, secure passwords, authentication, secure protocols, ...)
* Visualisation of several methods (e.g. Caesar, Enigma, RSA, Diffie-Hellman, digital signatures, AES)
* Cryptanalysis of certain algorithms (e.g. Vigenère, RSA, AES)
* Crypt-analytical measuring methods (e.g. entropy, n-grams, autocorrelation)
* Auxiliary methods (e.g. primality tests, factorisation, base64 coding)
* Tutorial about number theory
* Comprehensive online help
* Supportive script with further information about cryptology
From its original use of information security training for a company, CrypTool has developed into an outstanding open source project for cryptology related topics.
Since spring 2008, the CrypTool project has been operating the Crypto Portal for Teachers. Thus far, the portal is only available in German and is intended to act as a platform for teachers to share teaching materials about cryptology and related links.
Currently the CrypTool team is working on two future projects intended to become the successors of the current release version CrypTool 1.4.x which has been written in C++. Both follow-up projects use state-of-the-art standards of software development, but are still in alpha/beta status:
* CrypTool 2.0 is developed in C# with Visual Studio 2008 (Express Edition) and WPF. In July 2008 the beta version (for developers and end users) has been released. This version provides a fully developed architecture and usable cryptographic functionality combined with a pathbreaking drag-and-drop GUI.
* JCrypTool is developed in Java and based on Eclipse RCP. The first developer version (called milestone 1) was released in August 2007. The release of the next version (called milestone 2, intended for developers and users) is planned for beginning of August 2008. JCrypTool is platform independent and works together with the FlexiProvider (a powerful toolkit for the Java Cryptography Architecture JCA) developed by the TU Darmstadt.
On the roadmap you can find the planned new features of both future versions, and the planned date of the next release version of CrypTool 1.4.x.
Volunteers, especially programmers and students planning to write their theses, are always welcome to join in the further development of this world-wide project.
http://www.cryptool.org/
