Practice Cryptography!
Even with all of the cryptologic and cryptographic technology that has existed in the world for the past 60 years, we still don't really know what encryption is good for or how to use it -- or, more importantly, why it's important. Maybe it's time for people and coders to actually start practicing how to use it, like any other skill.Thursday, March 09, 2006
http://www.sniperflashcards.com/cipher.asp
Okay, this really chaps me. You have to spend $250 to get the cipher wheels and the details of the algorithm. (I got the above link from the Google ads that show up at the top of this blog -- one of the reasons I have the ads there is so I can find new things to address.)
Specifically: This guy is inviting a known-plaintext attack. You must pay in to play. My belief here is that he's planning on making enough from the number of entries to pay out the $5000 prize (that'd be $250 * 20, or 20 entries for him to make back the prize money). Plus, if you want additional known-plaintext (other clauses of the Constitution -- you don't get a chosen-plaintext against this one), that costs an additional $250, reducing the number of people who have to enter by one each time that fee is paid.
Code wheels are an interesting and odd little enigma. (Which is why the machines that the Germans used during World War II were called the "Enigma" machines.) It was largely flaws in their use that allowed them to be broken.
But why would I want to pay $250 for something that I can't cleanly verify?
Okay, this really chaps me. You have to spend $250 to get the cipher wheels and the details of the algorithm. (I got the above link from the Google ads that show up at the top of this blog -- one of the reasons I have the ads there is so I can find new things to address.)
Specifically: This guy is inviting a known-plaintext attack. You must pay in to play. My belief here is that he's planning on making enough from the number of entries to pay out the $5000 prize (that'd be $250 * 20, or 20 entries for him to make back the prize money). Plus, if you want additional known-plaintext (other clauses of the Constitution -- you don't get a chosen-plaintext against this one), that costs an additional $250, reducing the number of people who have to enter by one each time that fee is paid.
Code wheels are an interesting and odd little enigma. (Which is why the machines that the Germans used during World War II were called the "Enigma" machines.) It was largely flaws in their use that allowed them to be broken.
But why would I want to pay $250 for something that I can't cleanly verify?
Archives
2006-02-12 2006-02-19 2006-02-26 2006-03-05 2006-03-12 2006-03-19 2006-03-26 2006-04-02 2006-04-09 2006-04-16 2006-04-23 2006-07-23 2008-01-13 2008-01-20 2008-02-03 2008-02-17 2008-03-16 2008-04-06 2008-05-11
