cryptography – News Stories About cryptography - Page 1

Codes Contained in 1880s
Dress Are Finally Cracked

Codes Contained in 1880s Dress Are Finally Cracked

Wayne Chan reveals 'silk dress cryptogram' to be telegraph weather codes

(Newser) - Sara Rivers Cofield thought she was buying a pretty but unexceptional dress. In fact, she would soon discover the 1880s-era silk bustle dress, bought at a Maine antiques mall in 2013, had a secret pocket, inside of which was paper containing 23 handwritten lines of code. In a few cases,...

King's Secret Code Is
Broken 500 Years Later

King's Secret Code Is Broken 500 Years Later

Letter reveals Charles V's fears of French assassination plot

(Newser) - For the first time, researchers are reading about a rumored French plot to assassinate King Charles V of Spain in his own words—or symbols, rather. The information was only revealed after six months of "painstaking" work by codebreakers, per AFP . It's no secret that Charles V and...

China Announces
Quantum Leap in
Encryption

China Announces Quantum Leap in Encryption

Soon-to-launch communications network said to be 'unhackable'

(Newser) - Communications just got tighter between Alice and Bob, leaving Eve out in the cold. These aren't real people, but rather the names commonly used in scenarios describing quantum cryptography , a type of technology surpassing traditional encryption in terms of keeping communications networks safe from hackers. It's a technology...

He Claims He's Solved a Century-Old Music Puzzle

He May Have
Cracked
Century-Old
Music 'Enigma'

LONGFORM

Feb 2, 2017 12:43 PM CST

He May Have Cracked Century-Old Music 'Enigma'

But not all scholars are convinced of Bob Padgett's theory

(Newser) - At the debut of his Variations on an Original Theme in 1899, English composer and cryptographer Edward Elgar hinted at a riddle of sorts hidden in the work. The idea is that the 14 variations in the piece are, in fact, variations of a particular piece of music. "So...

Snowden's Password
Idea: Strange, but Not
Terribly Secure

OPINION

Apr 14, 2015 1:32 PM CDT

Snowden's Password Idea: Strange, but Not Terribly Secure

Cryptography expert says 'MargaretThatcheris110%SEXY' just wouldn't cut it

(Newser) - Edward Snowden recommended last week that people use longer "passphrases" instead of passwords for extra security. One of his suggestions: something unusual and counterintuitive like "MargaretThatcheris110%SEXY." But cryptography expert Joseph Bonneau tells Andy Greenberg, writing for Wired , why Snowden's approach leaves much to be desired. To...

10 Words Deciphered
From Mysterious
600-Year-Old Text

Feb 21, 2014 1:52 PM CST

10 Words Deciphered From Mysterious 600-Year-Old Text

Stephen Bax has figured out 14 characters from the Voynich manuscript

(Newser) - What has been called the most mysterious manuscript in the world has at last given up a tiny handful of its secrets. An applied linguistics professor thinks he's deciphered 14 characters from the famous Voynich manuscript, and with them 10 complete words, LiveScience , the BBC , and the Independent report....

Ancient Viking
Carving Yields
... a Love Note

Feb 13, 2014 12:43 PM CST

Ancient Viking Carving Yields ... a Love Note

PhD student deciphers mysterious codes from 12th and 13th centuries

(Newser) - A PhD student thinks he's deciphered a 900-year-old carving that has long puzzled experts—and it's basically a valentine. The carving appears to be based on a code that subs in numbers for runes and, when deciphered, reads "kiss me," Jonas Nordby from the University of...

100-Year-Old Hoax May Be 600-Year-Old Code

Jun 22, 2013 5:26 PM CDT

100-Year-Old Hoax May Be 600-Year-Old Code

UK researchers find new patterns in mysterious manuscript

(Newser) - Many people believe that the Voynich manuscript—a book found in 1912 written in an unknown language with images of plants and astronomy—is a hoax. Cryptographers, mathematicians, and linguists have been trying to decipher the supposedly 15th-century text found by book dealer Wilfrid Voynich in 1912 for 100 years,...

Why Your Password Is
Less Safe Than Ever

Aug 21, 2012 2:37 PM CDT

Why Your Password Is Less Safe Than Ever

Advances in cracking technology and reuse of passwords leaves users vulnerable

(Newser) - Once upon a time, hackers tried to guess passwords using a list of words cobbled from a dictionary and fairly feeble computers. Back then, the one password you're using for all your sites was probably pretty safe. But that's not the case anymore, reports Ars Technica , citing huge...

Cryptographers Solve
'Unbreakable' Code

Jun 22, 2012 2:55 PM CDT

Cryptographers Solve 'Unbreakable' Code

21 computers unravel 923-bit code in 148 days

(Newser) - A code that scientists thought should take at least thousands of years to unravel was cracked in a mere 148 days by 21 computers working in unison, reports CNET . The solution to the 278-character, 923-bit code broke a world record in cryptanalysis, and the victorious team of technologists used "...

In Search of Code Breakers, UK Intel Invades Social Media

Dec 1, 2011 6:15 AM CST

In Search of Code Breakers, UK Intel Invades Social Media

Launches 'Can You Crack It?' test

(Newser) - Did you ever want to be a code-breaking secret agent? Well, this could be your big chance. One of Great Britain's oldest intelligence services, Government Communications Headquarters, has launched an online test called " Can You Crack It? ," designed to help find new talent, reports the BBC . The...

Cop: I've Deciphered a
Zodiac Killer Message

Apr 20, 2011 9:01 AM CDT

Cop: I've Deciphered a Zodiac Killer Message

But Lt. John Lewison has yet to share his solution

(Newser) - A Chicago cop says he has managed to decipher one of the coded messages that have long frustrated investigators—one left by the Zodiac killer. Lt. John Lewison has been something of a Zodiac hobbyist ever since the “BTK Killer” was caught in 2005 using clues from the taunting...

FBI Wants You to Crack
Code in 12-Year-Old Murder

FBI Wants You to Crack Code in 12-Year-Old Murder

They're hoping amateur puzzle fans can solve notes found on St. Louis man

(Newser) - The FBI’s best cryptanalysts haven’t been able to crack a mysterious code found in the pocket of a murder victim 12 years ago—so they’re hoping you can do it. Ricky McCormick, 41, was found dead in a Missouri field in 1999, and the bizarre notes in...

                     Lab Note
                     Baffles
                     Code
                     Sleuths

Jul 12, 2008 1:30 PM CDT

Lab Note Baffles Code Sleuths

Internet abuzz with strange letter sent to Fermi physics facility

(Newser) - Amateur cryptographers are racking their brains over a mysterious letter sent to the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The note, covered in alien-looking symbols, arrived last year and remained under wraps until May, when the lab posted it online for amateur sleuths. Since then part of the message has been decoded—...

Math Flub
Could Doom Online Safety

Nov 17, 2007 11:57 AM CST

Math Flub Could Doom Online Safety

Simple error might give hackers private data, expert warns

(Newser) - A small glitch in a computer chip—hypothetical so far—could allow hackers to steal private information from millions of PCs, a renowned cryptographer warns colleagues. Adi Shamir, an Israeli professor who helped design software guarding e-commerce transactions, wrote that a simple math mistake could cause a computer’s security...