Math 1111: Cryptography

Nice write-up in Wired's "Danger Room" column on Phil Zimmerman, who was recently inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.

This site has some really neat pictures and a video detailing Babbage's Difference Engine. The pictures are gigapixel, so they are incredibly detailed.

Wow. That's a lot of zoom.

A summary of why encryption wouldn't have prevented General Petraeus from getting caught. Like the quote: "If you think cryptography is the solution to your problem, you either don't understand cryptography or you don't understand your problem."

Seriously, folks, you need better passwords.

Has the government been reading your email, Facebook posts, tweets, etc.? Yes, yes they have.

Hey, look, the British are reading our emails, too...

This will only be seen by our class.

Here's that chart showing Eric Snowden's revelations about the NSA over the last twelve months.

After a high school principle pulls the plug on a plan to use Little Brother as a common reading, Cory Doctorow sends the school 200 copies of the book for free. Good man.

Encrypted tweets from the NSA! Good to see them have a sense of humor.

A little progress on the mysterious Voynich manuscript...

Some advice from security expert Bruce Schneier on how to keep the NSA from snooping on you. "Trust the math. Encryption if your friend."

First official confirmation that strong encryption is foiling government wiretaps.

Apparently, if you use strong encryption, the NSA pays more attention to you.

Quantum computing has teased us with its potential for some time, but we won't be seeing qubits in our laptops anytime soon. However, science has also sought to leverage quantum physics in cryptography, and a recent breakthrough will allow for quantum encryption over fiber optic cables already in use.