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How much math is needed to break crypto systems, really?

1 points by king_mob ↗ HN
I see so much conflicting information and opinion on this i thought id just come out and ask. If you were to getting started in breaking applications, and your interest was specifically breaking the cryptography built into applications, is your time better spent learning the math behind crypto or the programming behind the code?

This question has been bothering me for awhile, and its down to the comments iv seen on HN and elsewhere that most of the serious crypto attacks that appear in the wild were known about in the literature first.

5 comments

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hunch
What if it was broken before implementation because the information had to of been received.
king_mob
I would of hoped that faulty crypto wouldnt be implemented, although there is that old saying that properly implemented DES can be stronger than poorly implemented AES.

Truthfully i dont know enough about cryptography to answer that, hence the OP.

ColinWright
I would strongly recommend the Matasano Crypto Challenge. By doing those you will answer your questions, learn as much math as you need, gain practical insights, and get as far as you choose.

Here is someone's experience of it:

https://blog.pinboard.in/2013/04/the_matasano_crypto_challen...

It used to be here:

http://matasano.com/articles/crypto-challenges/

Things have changed:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7821028

king_mob
Thanks colin. Truthfully, id love to do those challenges, i saw the link about three months ago and emailed cryptopals at matasano around then, and again about a month ago, sadly i havent had any response (which considering its a free service is completely understandable) so im trying to piece together a good pathway for progression on my own.
king_mob
Colin - sorry iv just now read the 3rd link and seen when it was posted, looks like ill wait a bit and see what gets announced.