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Encryption Matters, Part I

Posted by michael on from the walk-before-you-run dept.

kuro5hin writes, "Kuro5hin.org is running a series of articles introducing cryptography to the non-expert. The first, Encryption Matters, Part I provides an overview of basic crypto concepts: what cryptography is, and the different ways crypto is useful. It also discusses some basic algorithms, and how they may be broken. Future articles will discuss public key cryptography, and provide a tutorial on PGP/GPG for the beginner. "

9 comments

  1. Wait! by prizog · · Score: 2

    Good artical, but it didn't mention Twofish. Twofish is Bruce Schneier's new encryption algorithn - it kicks ass!

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    1. Re:Wait! by Inoshiro · · Score: 2

      Ahhh.. Didn't read it, did you? It's the first article. You can't go onto discussing encryption algorithms before the subject has even been introduced.

      Read the next few articles on the topic. I'll get into specific ciphers at a later point in time.
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      Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
    2. Re:Wait! by prizog · · Score: 1

      heh, I did read it - Otherwise I would have gotten 1st post :)

      You did mention a few specific ciphers... so I figured what the heck.

      Hey, is this the first time /. has linked to k5? k5 is awesome, and to see /. linking to it, well, it's a sign that the times are changing.

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      Become a FSF associate member before the low #s are used
    3. Re:Wait! by kuro5hin · · Score: 2
      Hey, is this the first time /. has linked to k5?

      In fact, it is. Although it's the first time I've submitted an article, too. Don't know if anyone else has submitted anything in the past.

      k5 is awesome

      Thank you. :-)

      and to see /. linking to it, well, it's a sign that the times are changing.

      I was surprised myself. I seriously didn't expect this to get posted. So many thanks to michael for not letting (potential) partisanship get in the way of content. There's been far too much general partisanship anyway. And yes, I'm just as guilty of slashdot bashing as anyone else, I suppose. But, now that I've done what they did (or, actually, what they did up to maybe last year or late '98), I have to say, it's not nearly as easy as it looks from the outside. I think /., and Rob and Hemos in particular, should be cut way more slack than they usually are.

      Anyway, that's the offtopic bit of my comment-- as for the series, the next article will get into more modern ciphers I believe.

      PS: Inoshiro rocks. :-)

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      There is no K5 cabal.
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    4. Re:Wait! by dlc · · Score: 2

      Er, it looks like you submitted this one a while back (Linux 2.2.11), and there was the Andover sues Kuro5hin joke from April 1st, as well as a not so subtle Scoop plug (from the search page).

      Don't mean to pick. Good work with Scoop, BTW (another free plug!).

      darren


      Cthulhu for President!
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      (darren)
  2. Can't wait for next week. by ripicheep · · Score: 2

    Encryption has been an issue recently in our office. One of our less tech workers has been to a seminar or something where he learned that encryption is not 100% unbreakable. This article is a good grounding in some of the princilples of encryption with enough math to help the techies understand what to explain.

    Thanks to kuro5hin for the article.

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    "A witty saying proves nothing." -Voltaire
    1. Re:Can't wait for next week. by kuro5hin · · Score: 2
      Te next article will include something about one-time pads, which, if done right (not a trivial task!) can be 100% unbreakable. In that potentially, every message is as likely a decryption of the ciphertext as any other message. But I'll let Inoshiro tackle that next week.

      You're welcome, BTW. :-)

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      There is no K5 cabal.
      I am not the real rusty.
    2. Re:Can't wait for next week. by Inoshiro · · Score: 1

      Tsk, Rusty, stop hogging all the credit ;-)
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      Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
    3. Re:Can't wait for next week. by kuro5hin · · Score: 2
      Hogging all the credit? Who submitted the article in the first place! Who wrote all the software and fixed all the bugs and suffered while the whole world critiqued my baby! Hogging all the credi...

      Whoah. What just happened? Must be something in the bits of this place that makes you want to flame... ;-)

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      There is no K5 cabal.
      I am not the real rusty.