Wired has a fascinating look at the state of cryptography today, with an in-depth account of breaking a 250 year old code with the help of statistical algorithms.  This type of technique may lead to scores of old coded texts being broken, which will allow much greater looks into secret societies or even just great thinkers writing in dangerous times. This was also recently done by a group at Brown University, who figured out the keys to Roger Williams' coded notes.  Cool.