Editing Alice and Bob (section)

{{Short description|Characters used in cryptography and science literature}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}
{{use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
[[File:Alice-bob-mallory.jpg|thumb|Example scenario where communication between Alice and Bob is intercepted by Mallory]]

'''Alice and Bob''' are fictional characters commonly used as placeholders in discussions about [[cryptography|cryptographic]] systems and [[Cryptographic protocol|protocols]],{{Ref RFC|4949|notes=no}} and in other science and engineering literature where there are several participants in a [[thought experiment]]. The Alice and Bob characters were created by [[Ron Rivest]], [[Adi Shamir]], and [[Leonard Adleman]] in their 1978 paper "A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-key Cryptosystems".<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Rivest |first1=Ron L. |author-link1=Ron Rivest |first2=Adi |last2=Shamir |author-link2=Adi Shamir |first3=Len |last3=Adleman |author-link3=Leonard Adleman |date=1978-02-01 |title=A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-key Cryptosystems |journal=Communications of the ACM |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=120–126 |doi=10.1145/359340.359342 |issn=0001-0782 |citeseerx=10.1.1.607.2677|s2cid=2873616 }}</ref> Subsequently, they have become common [[archetype]]s in many scientific and engineering fields, such as [[quantum cryptography]], [[game theory]] and [[physics]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Newton|first=David E.|title=Encyclopedia of Cryptography|year=1997|publisher=Instructional Horizons, Inc|location=Santa Barbara California|pages=10}}</ref> As the use of Alice and Bob became more widespread, additional characters were added, sometimes each with a particular meaning. These characters do not have to refer to people; they refer to generic agents which might be different computers or even different programs running on a single computer.