Math 1111: Cryptography

Wow, poor guy. Time to update my passwords.

This website details how the Spartan scytale was used in 500 B.C. Also features a program that encodes your own message according to the spartan scytale.

Info on how Jonah Lehrer (the journalist who made up Bob Dylan quotes) had his book retracted.

"The problem of securing biological research data is a difficult and complicated one. Our ability to secure data on computers is not robust enough to ensure the security of existing data sets. Lessons from cryptography illustrate that neither secrecy measures, such as deleting technical details, nor national solutions, such as export controls, will work. "

"Around sixty Bletchley Park veterans gathered again at the Home of the Codebreakers on Sunday 2nd September, for the annual Enigma Reunion. The event is timed each year to coincide with the anniversary of the arrival of the first codebreakers at Bletchley Park, after they received the coded message 'Auntie Flo is not so well', indicating they should report for top secret duties."

Here is the tool I used that puts the plain text letters over the cipher letters.

A useful document detailing the different substitution ciphers (including the Caesar Shift) and the application of Modular Arithmetic in modern day Cryptography.

Very interesting article that begins with the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, and continues to speak about different techniques of encryption that are harder and harder to break. It also deals with the fact that Mary's messages were being intercepted and the article speaks about secure encryption using photons where you would know if your message was intercepted.

A breach in supposedly secure keys given to employees by private companies vindicates previous warnings by cryptographers that companies should use more difficult keys, and that companies have not been cautious enough using such keys because of their assumed security.

An interesting account of how technology can now help "crack" codes which were once thought to be impervious.

This is another example of the debate on whether security or privacy is more important.

A description of how the Copiale Cipher was cracked. 

Instead of hiring "upper-class twits from Oxford and Cambridge," A government communications agency tried a new angle on recruiting hackers. They decided to combat hackers with other experienced hackers by posting an online puzzle and offering a job interview to those who solved it.

Summary: Cryptography specialists have developed tools to crack PPTP encryption (based on an algorithm from Microsoft), gaining access to Wi-Fi, passwords, corporate networks and data.

Online collaboration over the claimed proof "P versus NP" demonstrates the potential of the internet in the field of mathematical and intellectual research alike. The proof "P versus NP," if verified, would make obsolete modern cryptography, which works under the assumption that P does not equal NP.

Eastern European hackers have been proven more effective at their craft than Asian cybercriminals due to their precision, focus, and ability to protect their identities. 

Mobile devices offer incredibly low security or protection from criminals trying to decipher data. 

Summary: California researchers report a breakthrough with the creation of a solid-state quantum processor that could ultimately have a bearing on future cryptographic techniques. Researchers in California have designed and built a quantum processor capable of factoring 15 into its primes - with major implications for computer security.

The Government Communications Headquarters in the UK offered a job application to anyone who could solve their code found at www.canyoucrackit.co.uk

Not directly involving cryptography, but the implications of this definitely affect the field. Now that we have the capability to generate truly random number strings, our ability to encrypt data will improve.