Ko da yake ainihin kalmar "cryptanalysis" ne gaba ɗaya kwanan nan (William Friedman ne ya ƙirƙira shi a 1920), hanyoyin da za a karya lambobin da ciphers sun fi tsufa. An ba da bayanin farko da aka rubuta game da cryptanalysis ta hanyar 9th-century Arab polymath, Al-Kindi (wanda aka sani da "Alkindus" a Turai), a cikin A Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages. Wannan rubutun ya haɗa da bayanin hanyar bincike na mita (Ibrahim Al-Kadi, 1992- ref-3). Masanin Italiyanci Giambattista della Porta shi ne marubucin wani aiki mai mahimmanci a kan cryptanalysis "De Furis Literarum Nottivis". Frequency shine kayan aiki na asali don karya mafi yawan ƙididdiga na al'ada. A cikin wasu harsuna, haruffa na haruffan haruffa sun bayyana sau da yawa a cikin haruffan haruffan haruffa; a cikin harshen Ingilishi, shi ne mafi yawanci ana amfani da shi don samar da ciphers.
William Friedman