A deep dive into the history of cryptography

a-deep-dive-into-the-history-of-cryptography.md

A deep dive into the history of cryptography

We implement or use some form of cryptography nearly every day: from public-key authentication or cryptocurrency transactions to credit-card processing or visiting a website over SSL. Security is omnipresent today, and has been for a long time. Tracing the colorful history of cryptography, I will present the evolution of secret writing from the ancient greeks and the Middle Ages to the present and beyond.

In this highly practical session, I explain encryption techniques (such as the "indecipherable cipher") through JavaScript code. You will gain hands-on experience with encrypting and decrypting messages. Through these examples, you will come to understand how the ongoing battle between code makers and breakers is a catalyst for fast-paced innovation, new strategies and paradigms for secret communication.

Topics will include:

• Security through obscurity,
• Plaintext vs. ciphertexts and substition ciphers,
• Frequency analysis,
• The enigma code during World War II,
• Public-key cryptography & RSA

Short version

Tracing the history of cryptography, I will present its evolution all the way from the ancient greeks to the present and beyond. Through code examples, you will gain hands-on experience with encrypting and decrypting messages and learn about concepts such as cipher texts and substitution ciphers.

Hey @basvdheijden, certainly not a bad abstract, but a bit too long and a bit too... safe?.

I would start with the colorful history of crypto, starting from the substitution ciphers of the classic era, and then talk about the race. And explain all the concepts through that. Makes for a much more fun abstract to read.

@anjuan: Thanks for your review! I've removed the "and much more" part :-)
@elazar: I've reduced the size of the abstract and tried to make the learnings more explicit; thanks!
@evanderkoogh: Thanks for the review! it was hard to rephrase, but I did my best :-)

@basvdheijden You mention early on that we use cryptography for many things; providing a few examples (e.g. credit card processing) might bring more pragmatic context to the topic. Mentioning "security" as a term earlier on might also make your hook more effective. This version of the abstract is definitely an improvement over the original, though. Keep iterating. :)

@elazar: something like this?

@basvdheijden I like the improvements you've made. How long do you think it will take you to cover the contents of your abstract? I would guess about an hour because you're covering a lot of ground.