The English word cryptography derives from Greek and translates roughly to "hidden writing." For thousands of years, groups who wanted to communicate in secret developed methods to write their messages in a way that only the intended recipient could read. In the information age, almost all communication is subject to some sort of eavesdropping, and as a result cryptography has advanced rapidly. Understanding how cryptography works is important for anyone who wants to be sure that their data and communications are safe from intruders. This section discusses cryptography, starting with basic ciphers and cryptanalysis. The ancient Egyptians began the first known practice of writing secret messages, using nonstandard hieroglyphs to convey secret messages as early as 1900 bc. Since that time, people have developed many methods of hiding the content of a message. These methods are known as ciphers.