Re: Intuitive Cryptography Examples?

On Tue, 28 Sep 2010 22:54:27 GMT, unruh <unruh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2010-09-28, Peter Pearson <ppearson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sat, 25 Sep 2010 16:12:45 -0700 (PDT), amzoti <amzoti@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have been asked to give a cryptography presentation to a non-
mathematical group (includes all disciplines in a company - from
managers, finance, engineers, sw, ...).

I want to make it a lively presentation that gives them an intuitive
feel for what cryptography does by showing more practical applications
of how cryptography works and I am not sure I can cover an hour thus
far (should be easy - I know).


2. Show how NP-complete problems can be used to prove your
identity. Many NP-complete problems are easy to describe
(e.g., can you place K ice-cream stands on this map in
such a way that every street has an ice-cream stand at
one end or both), and you can easily show how to generate
a difficult instance to which only you know the answer,
and you can also show how a zero-knowledge proof of knowledge
can be constructed.

NP complete or incomplete is a total red herring.
[snip]

I agree. It suffices to say something like, "This is an
instance of a famously intractable class of problems." I
wouldn't bludgeon the hapless audience with complexity theory.

Even if nobody uses, say, Hamiltonian circuits in real
cryptography, it's wonderful to be able to describe a zero-
knowledge protocol that can be performed with materials found
in your kitchen.

--
To email me, substitute nowhere->spamcop, invalid->net.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Intuitive Cryptography Examples?
    ... I have been asked to give a cryptography presentation to a non- ... Show how NP-complete problems can be used to prove your ... such a way that every street has an ice-cream stand at ...
    (sci.crypt)
  • Re: Intuitive Cryptography Examples?
    ... I have been asked to give a cryptography presentation to a non- ... Show how NP-complete problems can be used to prove your ... such a way that every street has an ice-cream stand at ...
    (sci.crypt)
  • Re: Intuitive Cryptography Examples?
    ... | I have been asked to give a cryptography presentation to a non- ... | feel for what cryptography does by showing more practical applications ... it is easy - take a know image and encrypt it - then show ... trust you if you say "this algorithm is considered strong." ...
    (sci.crypt)