All this week, I'll be on location in beautiful San Francisco, where I'll be attending the annual RSA Conference. Here's some background info, for those of you not familiar with the infosec world in which I live. RSA refers to the RSA data encryption algorithm, which was developed in the mid to late 1970s by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Len Adleman (hence, Rivest-Shamir-Adleman or RSA). RSA is a asymmetric encryption algorithm. In encryption, traditional encryption is symmetrical, meaning that each side of a message, the sender and receiver, must have exchanged a key and be using the same key on each side. The sender encrypts using the key, and the receiver decrypts using the same key. The problem with symmetrical encryption is actually getting the key to both sides. If a malicious third party steals or intercepts the key, that key is worthless, and a new key must be generated and exchanged. The "key exchange problem" is what lead to the development of asymmetric cryptography (by Whitfield Diffie in the early to mid 1970s), in which keys can be exchanged without concern for a third-party intercepting them. I won't get into the technical details, but if you're interested in learning more, you can always e-mail me or post a comment for more info. Anyway, the great thing about a huge conference like this is that a lot of these guys, including Rivest, Shamir, and Diffie, are actually here, and I could meet them if I want to.
Basically, for the next four days, I'm in infosec geek paradise. :-)
I'll be posting all week on all kinds of interesting and unusual things that happen and that I notice while I'm here in the "City of Brotherly Love". I might even get another chance to post later tonight.
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