MetaFilter posts tagged with cryptology

Rezrov car.

Wolfdog — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:32:42 -0800

"The KeeLoq [Wikipedia] encryption algorithm is widely used for security relevant applications in the form of passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transponders for physical access control systems, e.g., for garage door opening or building access. We present the first successful DPA (Differential Power Analysis) attacks on numerous commercially available products employing KeeLoq." The paper.

You can read this but then I'll have to kill you

scalefree — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 11:41:18 -0800

The NSA Bibliographies The NSA internally publishes thousands of papers every year, on every topic from spycraft to cryptography to physics & aliens (no, really!). Each year the titles of these papers gets indexed & those indexes are also published internally. The Memory Hole has made a successful FOIA request for a large number of these, spanning almost 50 years. We don't get to see the actual papers, but just the titles are fascinating - including such page turners as "Computer Virus Infections: Is NSA Vulnerable?", "KAL 007 Shootdown: A View from [redacted]", "NSA in the Cyberpunk Future", "Telephone Codes and Safe Combinations: A Deadly Duo", "Coupon Collecting and Cryptology", "Cranks, Nuts, and Screwballs" & my personal favorite, "Key to the Extraterrestrial Messages". When you're done browsing the titles, there's a sample form you can use to request some of the documents yourself!

Grfg lbhe pelcgbtencuvpny fxvyyf!

tcp — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 11:34:51 -0800

MYSTERY TWISTER 2005 is an international crypto competition. During the year 2005, different tasks will be set, altogether 13 CryptoChallenges, CC1 to CC13, of increasing difficulty, such as, for example, decrypting an encrypted message or forging a digital signature. The variety of topics, which will be covered by the collection of challenges, is intended to provide a survey of modern cryptology. Powered by the Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany), registration required.

Navajo Code Talkers

taz — Wed, 22 Jan 2003 06:54:22 -0800

You've probably heard of the WWII Navajo "code talkers" who managed to baffle crack Japanese cryptanalysts and were credited with enabling US success at Iwo Jima. Civil engineer, journalist and photographer Philip Johnston was the determined mind behind the "windtalkers". The son of missionaries, Johnston grew up on a Navajo reservation and was one of only a handful of outsiders fluent in the Navajo language. A bit of his background is included this article, and you can read a complete history of his plan, view an archive of photos by Johnston, and see copies of his enlistment application letter to the Marine Corps commandant, as well as a recommendation letter from the Commanding General. (more inside...)

ed — Tue, 25 Jun 2002 15:58:47 -0800

Microsoft unleashes Palladium, an intrusive doozy of a feature involving specially secure AMD/Intel computer chips and cryptology provided by Microsoft. Newsweek's head-bobbing Steven Levy, the first to get the story, remains taciturn, failing to call into question Microsoft's security sins of the past. Geeks run scared while digital rights and GPL concerns are wholly ignored by the mainstream media. Is this yet another example of a malcontent media that will never possess the balls to actually question a new feature put out by Microsoft? Even Wired can't seem to read between the lines of a technology that "stemmed from early work by engineers to deliver digital movies that couldn't be pirated."

quirked — Tue, 06 Feb 2001 10:13:07 -0800

"Now it's possible to send a verse from the Koran, an appeal for charity and even a call for jihad and know it will not be seen by anyone hostile to our faith, like the Americans." Osama bin Laden and others are reported to be using encryption to post instructions for terrorist activities on sports chat rooms, pornographic bulletin boards and other Web sites.

lagado — Wed, 15 Nov 2000 17:59:06 -0800

Why Digital Signatures Are Not Signatures "When first invented in the 1970s, digital signatures made an amazing promise: better than a handwritten signature -- unforgeable and uncopyable -- on a document. Today, they are a fundamental component of business in cyberspace. And numerous laws, state and now federal, have codified digital signatures into law. These laws are a mistake." -- Bruce Schneier, November Crypto-Gram