Adversarial computing — the only discipline with an opponent.
16 topics · 22 curated works
No prior grounding assumed.
Public Key Cryptography
Computerphile · 2014
Uses paint mixing to show why a one-way function lets two strangers agree a shared secret over a channel an eavesdropper is reading, which is the…
+1 more at this level
Assumes you know the vocabulary.
Reflections on Trusting Trust
Ken Thompson · 1984
You cannot trust code you did not totally create yourself — a compiler can hide a backdoor that survives inspection of its own source.
+7 more at this level
Primary sources and full treatments.
New Directions in Cryptography
Whitfield Diffie & Martin Hellman · 1976
Introduces public-key cryptography, making secure communication possible between parties who have never met.
+11 more at this level
12 of 22 works
Computerphile
Uses paint mixing to show why a one-way function lets two strangers agree a shared secret over a channel an eavesdropper is reading, which is the whole basis of public-key cryptography.
link checked 17 Sept 2026OWASP Foundation
Ranks the ten most critical web application security risks from aggregated real-world vulnerability data, giving practitioners a prioritised list rather than an exhaustive taxonomy of every possible flaw.
Ken Thompson
You cannot trust code you did not totally create yourself — a compiler can hide a backdoor that survives inspection of its own source.
3 pageslink checked 17 Sept 2026Elliot J. Chikofsky & James H. Cross II
Proposes a shared vocabulary distinguishing reverse engineering, design recovery and re-engineering, arguing the field had been talking past itself for lack of agreed terms.
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Specifies DSA, the first U.S. federal standard for digital signatures, defining the exact algorithm agencies and vendors must implement to sign and verify documents electronically.
Karen Scarfone et al.
Lays out a repeatable methodology for security testing across review, discovery, attack and reporting phases, distinguishing penetration testing from broader vulnerability assessment.
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Specifies the SHA-1 and SHA-2 family of hash algorithms as the U.S. federal standard, fixing the exact bit operations every compliant implementation must reproduce.
Lily Chen et al.
Assesses the threat a working quantum computer poses to current public-key cryptography and lays out NIST's plan to standardise replacement algorithms believed resistant to quantum attack.
Computerphile
Works the Diffie-Hellman exchange through with real modular arithmetic, showing that security rests on the discrete logarithm being hard to reverse rather than on the messages being hidden.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Nataliya Shevchenko et al.
Surveys twelve threat-modelling methods in use across industry, including STRIDE, PASTA and attack trees, and compares what each is suited for rather than endorsing one as universal.
Whitfield Diffie & Martin Hellman
Introduces public-key cryptography, making secure communication possible between parties who have never met.
11 pageslink checked 17 Sept 2026Claude Shannon
Puts cryptography on a mathematical footing and proves the one-time pad is the only perfectly secret cipher.
Assumes probability, and ideally Shannon's information paper first — this one leans on it throughout
link checked 17 Sept 2026Notes on this copyThis subject genuinely sits in more than one domain. These fields approach the same ground with different methods.