The Mathematics of Secrets

Well, that's a #cryptography oops. web.archive.org/web/20251016...

Doing some profile editing --- this should really be a pinned post, not my bio!

In his book The Mathematics of Secrets, Joshua Holden takes readers on a tour of the mathematics behind cryptography—the science of sending secret messages.

mathofsecrets.com

Found this in my old tabs. Kind of a scary idea! #Cryptography can't do much about attacks like this. @schneier.com www.schneier.com/blog/archive...

Proof

An incredible proof from “When Least is Best” by Paul Nahin

The Mathematical Radio: Inside the Magic of AM, FM, and Single-Sideband by Paul J. Nahin

How a modern radio works, told through mathematics, history, and selected puzzles.

Paul J. Nahin's The Mathematical Radio is now available in #paperback. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

#Math #Mathematics #History

Everything involving generating functions seems like a great magic trick to me! :)

Slight clickbaiting here --- #quantumcomputing with 300 *logical* qubits can do amazing things, but this machine only has 3000 *physical* qubits. Still potentially a big step forward! @apsphysics.bsky.social
phys.org/news/2025-09...

Platforms Have Failed Us on Abortion Content. Here's How They Can Fix BY MOLLY BUCKLEY | October 1, 2025This is the eighth installment in a blog series documenting EFF's findings from the Stop Censoring Abortion campaign. You can read additional posts here. In our Stop

At a time when abortion rights are under attack, platforms with enormous resources—like Meta—have no excuse for silencing this important speech. We must push platforms to #StopCensoringAbortion. www.eff.org/pages/platf...

The Xiaofeng Wang search warrant has been unsealed, thanks to @riana.bsky.social. infosec.exchange/@hovav/11531...

I covered this in almost 3 hours of yammering last night:

youtube.com/live/fwVLsOe...

New Math Revives Geometry’s Oldest Problems | Quanta Magazine Using a relatively young theory, a team of mathematicians has started to answer questions whose roots lie at the very beginning of mathematics.

Oh, right, I said I'd post some good news. This article appears to have nothing to do with #cryptography, but down towards the bottom they talk about "clock arithmetic" --- that's the "wraparound" I introduce on page 3 of my book! @quantamagazine.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/new-math-rev...

Kerberoasting I learn about cryptographic vulnerabilities all the time, and they generally fill me with some combination of jealousy (“oh, why didn’t I think of that”) or else they impress me w…

Come on Microsoft #cryptography, get with the 21st century! @matthewdgreen.bsky.social blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2025/09/10/k...

I’m flagging this nice book/paper on FHE schemes not necessarily because it’s correct and I endorse it, but because it looks pretty useful. arxiv.org/pdf/2503.05136

Wavefunction Collapse

Don't be panel #2. xkcd.com/3134/ #quantumcomputing

A picture of a convex polyhedron with a large number of triangular faces and a flat top in the form of a regular n-gon for some largish n, captioned ‘Figure 2: The Noperthedron’

Via @david, new shape just dropped.

The authors claim to have proved that this polyhedron lacks Rupert's property. I haven't read the proof yet, but the claim itself doesn't seem outrageous.

Close up of side of turquoise noperthedron on a table. The shape is turquoise with triangulation where the band around it Center has smaller triangles and the top and bottom have longer triangles creating a belt around it that is more bulbus.

A turquoise 3d printed bulbous triangulated vase on a table with some rocks and weaving.

A noperthedron container printed!

#mathart #mtbos #noperthedron #polyhedra

A teal noperthedron with a cylindrical hole in a drafting program with shadowing. The shape is vase-like with triangulated faces, but bulbous at the center and slanted inward at the top in bottom so that there is a band of 3 layers of shorter triangles in the middle and longer more angled-in triangles at the top and base of the vase (container).

I am printing a noperthedron pencil holder :)

#mtbos #mathart #noperthedron

More unfortunate #cryptography news via @schneier.com. (I promise I'll post some good news soon!) www.schneier.com/blog/archive...

Not especially reassuring #cryptography news via @schneier.com. www.schneier.com/blog/archive...

Zero Knowledge Proofs: An illustrated primer One of the best things about modern cryptography is the beautiful terminology. You could start any number of punk bands (or Tumblrs) named after cryptography terms like ‘hard-core predicate&#…

I just finished a #cryptography paper on how to use a secret that you know to prove that you wrote a message. While we wait for it to be published, how about this warmup from @matthewdgreen.bsky.social --- lots of nice pictures! blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2014/11/27/z...

Quantum Scientists Have Built a New Math of Cryptography | Quanta Magazine In theory, quantum physics can bypass the hard mathematical problems at the root of modern encryption. A new proof shows how.

Lots of #cryptography researchers are looking for problems that are just harder than quantum computers can deal with. These folks want to look at *way* harder problems! (A good reminder that NP-complete is not as hard as it gets!) @quantamagazine.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-scie...

Computer Scientists Figure Out How To Prove Lies | Quanta Magazine An attack on a fundamental proof technique reveals a glaring security issue for blockchains and other digital encryption schemes.

This is a little worrying, since the Fiat-Shamir transform is used in most of the signature proposals for post-quantum #cryptography! It doesn't seem like this new technique can break those, though, so hopefully we are safe for now. @quantamagazine.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/computer-sci...

Quantum Dots For Reliable Quantum Key Distribution The efficiency of a quantum cryptography scheme can be improved by replacing conventional attenuated lasers with single-photon quantum-dot sources.

This is potentially very exciting --- cost and reliability of quantum hardware are key factors in determining its use for #cryptography! @apsphysics.bsky.social physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Bletchley Park code breaker Betty Webb dies aged 101 Betty Webb MBE worked at Bletchley Park during World War Two intercepting enemy messages.

Respect. #cryptography #cybersecurity #codebreaker #history

In a sense this is non-news, but the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system is *so* important and it was *so* irresponsible to leave its funding to the last minute! #computersecurity

Arabic Words Transformed into Illustrations of Their Literal Meanings.

Mahmoud Tammam

🧵

8/20

Cat qubits open a faster track to fault-tolerant quantum computing – Physics World Amazon team claims its Ocelot chip could speed up development by 3‒5 years

More incremental improvement in #quantumcomputation. (And yes, cat qubits are named after Schrodinger's cat.) @ioppublishing.bsky.social physicsworld.com/a/cat-qubits...

Given recent instances of US visa holders and residents being detained or deported by US immigration authorities, we understand that some members of our community may not feel safe traveling to the US for Crypto this year. We want to assure everyone that we will provide the option to present and attend remotely.

Update on crypto.iacr.org/2025/

Most remarkably is the fact that a German professor and an Indian student keep delivering outstanding results in the U.S. For how long?
@mathofsecrets.bsky.social @mathematicanow.bsky.social @todos-math.bsky.social @mathematiguy.bsky.social