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Skipjack (cipher)
In cryptography, Skipjack is a block cipher—an algorithm for encryption—developed by the United States, U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Initially Classified information, classified, it was originally intended for use in the controversial Clipper chip. Subsequently, the algorithm was declassified. History of Skipjack Skipjack was proposed as the encryption algorithm in a US government-sponsored scheme of key escrow, and the cipher was provided for use in the Clipper chip, implemented in tamper resistance, tamperproof hardware. Skipjack is used only for encryption; the key escrow is achieved through the use of a separate mechanism known as the Clipper chip, Law Enforcement Access Field (LEAF). The algorithm was initially secret, and was regarded with considerable suspicion by many for that reason. It was classified information, declassified on 24 June 1998, shortly after its basic design principle had been discovered independently by the public cryptography community. To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for global intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, specializing in a discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT). The NSA is also tasked with the protection of U.S. communications networks and information systems. The NSA relies on a variety of measures to accomplish its mission, the majority of which are clandestine. The NSA has roughly 32,000 employees. Originating as a unit to decipher coded communications in World War II, it was officially formed as the NSA by President Harry S. Truman in 1952. Between then and the end of the Cold War, it became the largest of the U.S. intelligence organizations in terms of personnel and budget. Still, information available as of 2013 indicates that the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Key (cryptography)
A key in cryptography is a piece of information, usually a string of numbers or letters that are stored in a file, which, when processed through a cryptographic algorithm, can encode or decode cryptographic data. Based on the used method, the key can be different sizes and varieties, but in all cases, the strength of the encryption relies on the security of the key being maintained. A key's security strength is dependent on its algorithm, the size of the key, the generation of the key, and the process of key exchange. Scope The key is what is used to encrypt data from plaintext to ciphertext. There are different methods for utilizing keys and encryption. Symmetric cryptography Symmetric cryptography refers to the practice of the same key being used for both encryption and decryption. Asymmetric cryptography Asymmetric cryptography has separate keys for encrypting and decrypting. These keys are known as the public and private keys, respectively. Purpose Since the key ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dystopia (video Game)
''Dystopia'' is a team-based, objective-driven, first-person shooter video game, developed as a total conversion modification on the Valve's proprietary Source engine. It is based on the cyberpunk literary and aesthetic genre; it is somewhat based on popular role-playing game ''Shadowrun'', created by an amateur development team and released to the public for free. Its first playable build was released on September 9, 2005, after a year of planning and nine months of development. The first full version of ''Dystopia'', Version 1, was released after 3 years of development on February 25, 2007. ''Dystopia'' has been received positively from critics, with praise being given for its graphical quality, unique meatspace/cyberspace gameplay, overall polish and its representation of cyberspace. Criticisms of ''Dystopia'' were aimed at how inaccessible the game is at first, and its learning curve. The game has won several awards, including Best Mod for ''Half-Life 2'' from the Independent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Half-Life 2
''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' is played entirely from a first-person perspective, combining combat, puzzles, and storytelling. It adds features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. The player controls Gordon Freeman, who joins a resistance to liberate Earth from the Combine, a multidimensional alien empire. ''Half-Life 2'' was created using Valve's Source game engine, which was developed simultaneously. Development lasted five years and cost US $40million. Valve's president, Gabe Newell, set his team the goal of redefining the FPS genre. They integrated the Havok physics engine, which simulates real-world physics, to reinforce the sense of presence and create new gameplay. They also developed the characterization, with more detailed character models and animations. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dual EC DRBG
Dual_EC_DRBG (Dual Elliptic Curve Deterministic Random Bit Generator) is an algorithm that was presented as a cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator (CSPRNG) using methods in elliptic curve cryptography. Despite wide public criticism, including the public identification of the possibility that the National Security Agency put a backdoor (cryptography), backdoor into a recommended implementation, it was, for seven years, one of four CSPRNGs standardized in NIST SP 800-90A as originally published circa June 2006, until it was withdrawn in 2014. Weakness: a potential backdoor Weaknesses in the cryptographic security of the algorithm were known and publicly criticised well before the algorithm became part of a formal standard endorsed by the American National Standards Institute, ANSI, International Organization for Standardization, ISO, and formerly by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). One of the weaknesses publicly identified was the pote ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backdoor (computing)
A backdoor is a typically covert method of bypassing normal authentication or encryption in a computer, product, embedded device (e.g. a home router), or its embodiment (e.g. part of a cryptosystem, algorithm, chipset, or even a "homunculus computer"—a tiny computer-within-a-computer such as that found in Intel's AMT technology). Backdoors are most often used for securing remote access to a computer, or obtaining access to plaintext in cryptosystems. From there it may be used to gain access to privileged information like passwords, corrupt or delete data on hard drives, or transfer information within autoschediastic networks. In the United States, the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act forces internet providers to provide backdoors for government authorities. In 2024, the U.S. government realized that China had been tapping communications in the U.S. using that infrastructure for months, or perhaps longer; China recorded presidential candidate campaign offi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public-key Encryption
Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is the field of cryptographic systems that use pairs of related keys. Each key pair consists of a public key and a corresponding private key. Key pairs are generated with cryptographic algorithms based on mathematical problems termed one-way functions. Security of public-key cryptography depends on keeping the private key secret; the public key can be openly distributed without compromising security. There are many kinds of public-key cryptosystems, with different security goals, including digital signature, Diffie–Hellman key exchange, public-key key encapsulation, and public-key encryption. Public key algorithms are fundamental security primitives in modern cryptosystems, including applications and protocols that offer assurance of the confidentiality and authenticity of electronic communications and data storage. They underpin numerous Internet standards, such as Transport Layer Security (TLS), SSH, S/MIME, and P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digital Fortress
''Digital Fortress'' is a techno-thriller novel written by American author Dan Brown and published in 1998 by St. Martin's Press. The book explores the theme of government surveillance of electronically stored information on the private lives of citizens, and the possible civil liberties and ethical implications of using such technology. Plot summary The story is set in 1996. When the United States National Security Agency's (NSA) code-breaking supercomputer TRANSLTR encounters a revolutionary new code, ''Digital Fortress,'' that it cannot break, Commander Trevor Strathmore calls in head cryptographer Susan Fletcher to crack it. She is informed by Strathmore that it was written by Ensei Tankado, a former NSA employee who became displeased with the NSA's intrusion into people's private lives. If the NSA doesn't reveal TRANSLTR to the public, Tankado intends to auction the code's algorithm on his website and have his partner, "North Dakota", release it for free if he dies, essential ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Brown
Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author best known for his Thriller (genre), thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon (book series), Robert Langdon novels ''Angels & Demons'' (2000), ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), ''The Lost Symbol'' (2009), ''Inferno (Brown novel), Inferno'' (2013), Origin (Dan Brown novel), ''Origin'' (2017) and ''The Secret of Secrets (Brown novel), The Secret of Secrets'' (2025). His novels are treasure hunts that usually take place over a period of 24 hours.Brown. Witness statement, pp. 17, 21. They feature recurring themes of cryptography, art, and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into 57 languages and, as of 2012, have sold over 200 million copies. Three of them, ''Angels & Demons'', ''The Da Vinci Code'', and ''Inferno'', have been Robert Langdon (franchise), adapted into films, while one of them, ''The Lost Symbol'', was adapted into a The Lost Symbol (TV series), television series. The Robert Langdon novel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Back-story
A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In acting, it is the history of the character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's preparation. Usage As a literary device, backstory is often employed to lend depth or believability to the main story. The usefulness of having a dramatic revelation was recognized by Aristotle, in ''Poetics''. Backstories are usually revealed, partially or in full, chronologically or otherwise, as the main narrative unfolds. However, a story creator may also create portions of a backstory or even an entire backstory that is solely for their own use. Backstory may be revealed by various means, including flashbacks, dialogue, direct narration, summary, recollection, and exposition. Recollection Recollection is the fiction-writing mode whereby a character calls something to mind, or remembers it. A character's memory plays a role for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impossible Differential Cryptanalysis
In cryptography, impossible differential cryptanalysis is a form of differential cryptanalysis for block ciphers. While ordinary differential cryptanalysis tracks differences that propagate through the cipher with greater than expected probability, impossible differential cryptanalysis exploits differences that are impossible (having probability 0) at some intermediate state of the cipher algorithm. Lars Knudsen appears to be the first to use a form of this attack, in the 1998 paper where he introduced his AES candidate, DEAL. The first presentation to attract the attention of the cryptographic community was later the same year at the rump session of CRYPTO '98, in which Eli Biham, Alex Biryukov, and Adi Shamir introduced the name "impossible differential" and used the technique to break 4.5 out of 8.5 rounds of IDEA and 31 out of 32 rounds of the NSA-designed cipher Skipjack. This development led cryptographer Bruce Schneier to speculate that the NSA had no previous knowledge of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alex Biryukov
Alex Biryukov () is a cryptographer, currently a full professor at the University of Luxembourg. Biography His notable work includes the design of the stream cipher LEX, as well as the cryptanalysis of numerous cryptographic primitives. In 1998, he developed impossible differential cryptanalysis together with Eli Biham and Adi Shamir. In 1999, he developed the slide attack together with David Wagner. In 2009 he developed, together with Dmitry Khovratovich, the first cryptanalytic attack on full-round AES-192 and AES-256 that is faster than a brute-force attack. In 2015 he developed the Argon2 key derivation function with Daniel Dinu and Dmitry Khovratovich. Since 1994 Alex Biryukov is a member of the International Association for Cryptologic Research The International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) is a non-profit scientific organization that furthers research in cryptology and related fields. The IACR was organized at the initiative of David Chaum at the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
