<ul data-eligibleForWebStory="true">Cryptography plays a vital role in security protocols like TLS, SSH, and VPNs for encrypting communication.The article discusses the author's realization of lacking deep understanding of cryptography despite prior experience.The series aims to delve into the fundamentals of cryptography starting with symmetric encryption and probability.Symmetric encryption ensures message security through shared secret keys for encryption and decryption.Historical ciphers like Caesar, Substitution, and Vigenère were broken due to lack of true randomness.Probability distributions and events are crucial in assessing cryptographic risks and security.Random variables and independence help quantify cryptographic security and prevent predictability.XOR is highlighted as a key operation in symmetric encryption due to its reversibility and simplicity.Using XOR ensures no information loss in encryption compared to OR and AND operations.The article emphasizes the importance of understanding these building blocks for establishing secure cryptographic systems.The article is eligible for web story generation.