A rather poor look at Current Issues in Cryptography

Posted by Ken Y-N on October 4th, 2009 at 03:09pm

I read an article on the Walden University Alumni Association Blog entitled Walden Think+Up Case Study "Tales from Decrypt: Current Issues in Cryptography", which seemed like a promising title, but sadly it turned out to be rather poor in its coverage of cryptography, and absolutely hopeless regarding the Trusted Computing Group. For instance:

In short, cryptography demands a fair amount of trust. Like the atom bomb before it, it’s a technology that’s profoundly shaping the modern world but whose complexities only a few individuals, most of them sworn to absolute secrecy, fully understand.

No, these days the best cryptographic algorithms are public algorithms, and people like Bruce Schneier will tell you secrecy is cryptography’s worst enemy.

Next, we reach Trusted Computing:

Yet another area where cryptography is likely to have significant impact is in so-called trusted computing.

[… ]

But some 170 companies, including Intel, Microsoft, and Seagate Technology, are backing it as a way to prevent pirating and to keep malicious and offensive programs from disrupting the computing environments for which they provide relatively costly support.

Ahh, the Trusted Computing Group, all a cunning plan to sell you an expensive service plan.

Tags: walden university

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