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RailsConf 2019 - Modern Cryptography for the Absolute Beginner by Jeffrey Cohen
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Modern life depends on cryptography. Did you get cash from an ATM this week? Buy something online? Or pick up a prescription? A cryptographic algorithm was needed to make it happen!

Increasingly, developers need to become familiar with the essentials of encryption. But MD5, bcrypt, DES, AES, SSL, digital signatures, public keys - what are they for, and why do we care?

Armed with only a vanilla Rails application and beginner-level Ruby code, this talk will demonstrate the key ideas in modern cryptography. We will also take a peek ahead to quantum computing and its implications on cryptography.

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The video titled "Modern Cryptography for the Absolute Beginner" presented by Jeffrey Cohen at RailsConf 2019 introduces the essential concepts of cryptography tailored for developers lacking a deep mathematical background. The session emphasizes the critical role of cryptography in modern life, showcasing its application in everyday technologies such as online banking and secure communication. Through a series of key points, Cohen elucidates the fundamentals of cryptography without delving into complicated math, aiming to make it accessible to beginners.

### Key Points Discussed:
- **Understanding Cryptography in Context**: Cohen begins with a historical perspective of cryptography, noting its significance since ancient times and its transformation with mechanized systems like the Enigma machine.
- **Cryptography vs. Security**: He clarifies the distinction between cryptography, which deals with encryption and decryption techniques, and broader security issues.
- **Primary Uses of Cryptography**:
  - **Verification**: This involves ensuring that a message has not been tampered with and verifying authorship.
  - **Secrecy**: Protecting the confidentiality of messages through various encryption methods.

- **Types of Encryption**:
  - **Symmetric Encryption**: Discussed through the example of the Caesar cipher and modern algorithms like AES, where the same key is used for both encryption and decryption.
  - **Public-Key Cryptography**: Cohen explores the revolutionary nature of this approach, using two keys (public and private) to solve the challenge of securely transmitting information without needing to share secrets beforehand.

- **Digital Signatures**: He explains how digital signatures function similarly to wax seals, ensuring message authenticity by encrypting a digest of the message with a private key, which can then be verified with a public key.
- **Quantum Computing Implications**: Cohen concludes by addressing the future challenges posed by quantum computing, which threatens traditional cryptography by potentially allowing for rapid factorization of large numbers, thereby undermining public-key systems.

In summary, the session emphasizes that understanding cryptography is not just for security experts but is essential for all developers involved in modern applications. Cohen encourages further inquiry into cryptographic principles and their growing relevance in the face of advancements like quantum computing.

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