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cryptographer

cryptographer

4 8.7
A person who makes or breaks secret codes
  • noun
  • /ˌkrɪp.təˈɡræf.ər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : criptógrafo
  • In 2009, a cryptographer named Satoshi Nakamoto unleashed a decentralized cryptocurrency on the world.
  • cryptographers work

But one, I do love the code Breakers, the cryptographers.

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Examples

  • A skilled cryptographer protected sensitive information by creating complex codes.

  • I'm a cryptographer and research professor at Johns Hopkins University.

    Blog text (11)
  • By education, an astronomer; by training, a cryptographer; by profession, a technology specialist.

    Blog text (12)
  • Europe's best cryptographers tried, and they all failed.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • The Rossignols were both excellent cryptographers and cryptanalysts.

    Blog text (21)
  • In recent times, timing attacks have largely been relegated to use only by cryptographers and cryptanalysts.

    Blog text (11)
  • After graduating from high school, Paul joined the army and was sent to Fort Dix for basic training and then to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where he was trained as a cryptographer.

    Academic text (1999)
  • In his position as Chief Cryptographer, he has worked on the cryptographic and security issues that arise in the design and construction of authentication schemes, smartcard applications, software protection schemes, and more.

    Blog text (11)
  • Viega is a well-known security expert and cryptographer and has co-authored several books, including Building Secure Software, Secure Programming Cookbook, Network Security with OpenSSL, and The 19 Deadly Sins of Software Security.

    Blog text (11)
  • American cryptographers, in one of the most tightly guarded secrets of the war, had broken many high-level Japanese codes and had intercepted messages giving Yamamoto's travel plans and routes.

    Fiction book (2000)

Synonyms

cryptologist
vscryptographer
  • Specialized
1 9.6

A person who studies and breaks secret codes

also designs and creates codes in addition to analysis
cryptanalyst
vscryptographer
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A person who decodes secret messages and breaks codes

also designs and creates codes in addition to performing analysis
codebreaker
vscryptographer
1 4.6

A person, machine, or program that finds the meaning of secret messages

can also design and write secure codes, not just decode them
decipherer
vscryptographer
7.4

A person who reads and understands secret or hard-to-read writing

is also a technical creator and analyst of formal codes

Antonyms

14 4.9

A person who does not have special knowledge or training in a subject

How Skilled

authority
292 4.2
expert
3 3.5
cryptographer
  • Specialized
4 8.7
novice
46 3.4

Surface Forms

cryptographer singular

Morphology

cryptographer = cryptography (semi-transparent) = crypto + graph + er

Forming an agent noun with -er from 'cryptography' is a standard English pattern.

Etymology

Cryptographer comes from Greek roots: crypt- meaning 'hidden', as in cryptic, and -graph meaning 'writing', as in autograph and photograph. So a cryptographer is someone who makes or reads hidden writing, in other words someone who creates and solves secret codes.