User:DavidCary

From CryptoDox, The Online Encyclopedia on Cryptography and Information Security

My name is David Cary.

I am interested in "small systems" ( wikipedia:embedded systems, wikipedia:microcontrollers ), alternatives to transistorized computing systems (such as wikipedia:quantum computers), and I like to understand how things work.

I am somewhat obsessed with testability and fault tolerance and "plain talk".

Cryptographic systems bring all of those interests together. Using a cryptographic system properly generally requires understanding how it works; deploying a cryptographic system requires explaining in "plain talk" to (non-expert) people how to use it; some of the more recent innovations in cryptography involve Quantum cryptography; and many of the most secure cryptosystems involve a small microcontroller (wikipedia:smart cards, wikipedia:security token).

When you compare a typical desktop computer to a smart card or security token -- the desktop computer is faster, has more memory, a prettier screen, etc. Yet running cryptographic algorithms on the security token is more secure than running the same algorithms on the desktop computer, because the security token "isn't smart enough to mess up" -- it doesn't have enough memory to hold a worm, or a keylogger, or most other forms of malware.

Cryptographic algorithms were originally designed to keep things secret in the face of malicious adversaries. But I am more interested in other things I can do with those algorithms. "Other things" such as preserve the integrity of the files on my website in the face of Mr. Murphy, electing good people in the face of their opponents, eliminating bad laws in the face of the 49% who vote the other way, keeping radio communication lines open in the face of accidental jamming by microwave ovens, etc. Perhaps I should write a page about these cryptographic challenges.

I also promote the WikiNode network.

... say something on my talk page ...