Episode #482

So I'm sure you're both familiar with cryptography.

Yes.

Which is the transmission of data in secret.

That is the basis of a terrific amount of our society these days.

Encryption is foundational to how the web works, to how computers communicate.

It's essential for privacy, both on the individual level and for kind of like military and government.

So the whole world runs on cryptography.

It's essential for funding the Reform Party.

Without cryptography, you wouldn't have secret donations going to Nigel Farage's party.

Struggle on that.

And Simon Singh wrote a really great book on cryptography called The Codebook, which goes through the history of people sending each other secret messages.

Have you read it? I have read it.

I've read it a couple of times.

I haven't.

It's a really

good book.

I've got copies, but I haven't read it.

Yeah.

When I first bought The Codebook, which must have been maybe 12 years ago now, something like that.

I recommended everyone in my team at work read it and said, this is a great grounding in cryptography and the challenges in cryptography.

And if you're doing something with a secret key, how do you communicate the secret key without already having a secret channel to send the secret key down? Those sorts of things.

But are either of you familiar with steganography?

It's nothing to do with the stegosaurus.

No. It's nothing to do with stenoline fairies.

Neither of those.

So I'm sure you're both familiar with cryptography.

Yes.

Which is the transmission of data in secret.

That is the basis of a terrific amount of our society these days.

Encryption is foundational to how the web works, to how computers communicate.

It's essential for privacy, both on the individual level and for kind of like military and government.

So the whole world runs on cryptography.

It's essential for funding the Reform Party.

Without cryptography, you wouldn't have secret donations going to Nigel Farage's party.

Struggle on that.

And Simon Singh wrote a really great book on cryptography called The Codebook, which goes through the history of people sending each other secret messages.

Have you read it? I have read it.

I've read it a couple of times.

I haven't.

It's a really

good book.

I've got copies, but I haven't read it.

Yeah.

When I first bought The Codebook, which must have been maybe 12 years ago now, something like that.

I recommended everyone in my team at work read it and said, this is a great grounding in cryptography and the challenges in cryptography.

And if you're doing something with a secret key, how do you communicate the secret key without already having a secret channel to send the secret key down? Those sorts of things.

But are either of you familiar with steganography?

It's nothing to do with the stegosaurus.

No. It's nothing to do with stenoline fairies.

Neither of those.