This November, the NSA relaunched its kids’ site, which uses Flash animation and features seven cartoon animals, each with a biography emphasizing the fun in mathematics, engineering, language analysis, computer programming, and other skills required for NSA work. The NSA complied (along with the FBI, CIA, and the National Reconnaissance Office, which builds and operates the nation’s spy satellites). In 1997, President Clinton ordered all government agencies to set aside real estate on their websites for child-oriented pages. The agency also boasts a cryptologic museum. With the latest version of “ CryptoKids,” a startlingly upfront website that encourages young Americans to consider careers in cryptography and crypto-analysis, the NSA is deploying the tools of modern marketing to get its recruiting message out – including cartoon characters with trademarked names like Crypto Cat ™ and Decipher Dog ™. And now it’s taken openness to a whole new level. Since 1982, though, when journalist James Bamford published The Puzzle Palace, a look inside the NSA, the agency has gradually shed its anonymity. government cryptology, the National Security Agency, was sometimes known as “No Such Agency” or “Never Say Anything.” Indeed, until the early 1980s, the hub of U.S. That’s understandable, since real-life code experts – those invaluable cryptographers who helped the Allies win the first and second world wars, laid the groundwork for the modern computer, and monitored Soviet communications during the Cold War – traditionally have kept very low profiles. But for kids interested in solving a different kind of mystery – the making and breaking of codes and ciphers – role models have been few and far between. Still, this is an important example to keep in mind: Encryption software, even when it’s open-source, can’t be considered secure until it’s been thoroughly audited and battle-tested (preferably for years).Young detectives of yesteryear would idolize the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or Encyclopedia Brown. This has since been addressed, and Cryptocat now runs as a browser extension and handles encryption locally. At the time, the problem was that Cryptocat handled security host-side, rather than locally. Following a glowing profile piece Wired published on Cryptocat and its developer, 21-year-old Nadim Kobeissi, security guru Bruce Schneier published a cautionary post in his blog letting readers know Cryptocat wasn’t as safe as it seemed. Cryptocat is one chat client that says you can have both security and convenience, and made quite a splash upon arrival.ĬryptoCat’s simple aesthetic makes it easy to focus on the conversation.Ĭryptocat demonstrates an important lesson about security software: Newer rarely means better. The chat clients built into Facebook and Gmail emphasize ubiquity and ease of use over encryption. Chatting online is easier than ever chatting securely, not so much.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |