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Modern Cryptography by: John Downey Once the realm of shadowy government organizations, cryptography now permeates computing. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get correct and most developers know just enough to be harmful for their projects. Together, we’ll go through the basics of modern cryptography and where things can go horribly wrong. Specific topics: Cryptographic primitives Secure password storage Subtle flaws that can leave you insecure Why you should use TLS/SSL and GPG instead
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The video titled "Modern Cryptography" features John Downey, a security expert from Braintree, who explores the essential concepts and practices surrounding modern cryptography. Downey emphasizes the importance of cryptography in securing communications and data, particularly for organizations that handle sensitive information such as payments. He aims to demystify cryptography, addressing common mistakes that developers encounter and shedding light on potential vulnerabilities in their systems. **Key Points Discussed:** - **Definitions and Purposes of Cryptography:** Downey defines cryptography as 'secret writing' with three main purposes: encryption for confidentiality, authentication for message integrity, and identification to confirm senders through digital signatures. - **Mathematical Foundations:** Modern cryptography relies on complex mathematical problems (like RSA) and should be peer-reviewed to ensure reliability. - **Common Pitfalls:** Developers often misuse cryptographic primitives, and the practical implementation of cryptographic systems can lead to serious flaws. Downey emphasizes understanding the broader system rather than just focusing on algorithms. - **Security Principles:** Kirchhoff's Principle indicates that security should rely solely on key secrecy and not algorithm secrecy. - **Critical Cryptographic Practices:** Downey discusses the significance of Transport Layer Security (TLS) for data in transit and GPG for data at rest, while cautioning about vulnerabilities such as those identified in SSL. - **Random Number Generation:** Proper random number generation is crucial for cryptographic security, illustrated by issues in PHP applications and OpenSSL that highlighted predictable password reset tokens. - **Hash Functions and Length Extension Attacks:** Downey explains vulnerabilities in hash functions like SHA-1 and recommends using SHA-256 instead. He describes how length extension attacks can exploit the internal states of hash functions unless mitigated through techniques like HMAC. - **Password Storage Practices:** The importance of using adaptive hashing algorithms like Bcrypt and proper salting techniques is highlighted to enhance password security. - **Trust and User Authentication:** Downey wraps up with the significance of verifying server fingerprints over SSH and endorses two-factor authentication for improving security. **Conclusion and Takeaways:** The discussion reinforces that cryptographic security is a challenging field where many developers can make critical mistakes. Downey encourages security practitioners to explore these principles and stay updated on best practices within cryptography, with a strong emphasis on understanding the underlying systems and using well-tested frameworks and libraries to avoid common pitfalls.
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