---

title: Cryptanalysis

slug: Glossary/Cryptanalysis

page-type: glossary-definition

---

{{GlossarySidebar}}

**Cryptanalysis** is the branch of {{glossary("cryptography")}} that studies how to break codes and cryptosystems. Cryptanalysis creates techniques to break {{glossary("cipher","ciphers")}}, in particular by methods more efficient than a [brute-force search](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brute-force_search). In addition to traditional methods like [frequency analysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_analysis) and [index of coincidence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_of_coincidence), cryptanalysis includes more recent methods, like [linear cryptanalysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_cryptanalysis) or [differential cryptanalysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_cryptanalysis), that can break more advanced ciphers.

## See also

- [Cryptanalysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis) on Wikipedia