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The fact remains that crypto _is_ very hard. I don't think it is any harder, actually. It's just that the stakes are much higher.
by cperciva 13y ago
The fact remains that crypto _is_ very hard.
I don't think it is any harder, actually. It's just that the stakes are much higher.
- 001spartan 13y agoI'll grant you that. Crypto is just one aspect of the security field that doesn't seem very intuitive to me, but it's probably just me.
- erichurkman 13y agoBased on how many security issues the internet has seen from developers that try to roll their own crypto: it's not just you.
- willvarfar 13y agoYou say its no harder, but the risks are higher. A lot of crypto is unintuitive. And the goal-posts keep moving. You have to keep well-read and very objective. You can say this about mainstream programming, but its a bit of a stretch. There is plenty of mainstream programming using the equiv to bubble sorts and nobody should care. You can get away with being a bad programmer. Because the risks are higher, and you can't get away with being mediocre, is why crypto is hard. PS: not a tarsnap user, but love your work and your thoughtful posts :)
- cperciva 13y agoPeople using bad algorithms is exactly the sort of thing I was thinking of. People write horribly broken code in every context; but instead of a bug making software slower than it should be, when an "equally dumb" bug happens in crypto code it probably reveals your keys.
- wglb 13y agoWell, you do understand how to write proveable programs. Most programmers do not.