Explanation of The Principle
Stated simply, the security of a cryptosystem should depend solely on the secrecy of the key and the private randomizer. Another way of putting it is that a method of secretly coding and transmitting information should be secure even if everyone knows how it works. Of course, despite the attacker's familiarity with the system in question, the attacker lacks knowledge as to which of all possible instances is being presently observed.
Read more about this topic: Kerckhoffs's Principle
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