Tag Archives: Cryptography

Networking and Operating Systems

CyberStart America Resources: Cryptography Links – Spring 2023

Objective: 

Students will continue preparing for competition in the National Cyber League by familiarizing themselves with common cryptographic methods so that they can effectively identify and decrypt encrypted messages and data.

Topics Discussed:

  • Cryptography
  • Ciphertext
  • Plaintext

Links:

This list is maintained as a resource for students competing in the National Cyber League competition to assist in identification and solution of the presented Cryptography puzzles. If you find any good online Cryptography resources in your travels, let me know and I will add them to the list!

Cryptii – A very cool and very fast “modular” decryption tool that lets you run a string of text through several encryption/decryption methods of your choice.

Dcode.fr – An outstanding French website that offers automatic decoding for a large variety of encryptions. Features include a powerful cipher identifier (that automatically recognizes more than 200 ciphers), decoding tools for the Caesar cipher, Vigenere cipher, Polybius’ square, and dozens of other encryptions.

The Black Chamber – A great collection of interactive tools that explain and allow you to decrypt a variety of common (and some uncommon) encoding schemes.

Tools for Noobs: Online Decryption Tool – Decrypts a string using various algorithms (e.g. Blowfish, DES, TripleDES, Enigma).

MD5hashing.net Encryption and Decryption – At md5hashing.net you can hash (encrypt) any string into 66 different hash types. As you probably know – decryption of any hash is impossible, but they offer reverse decryption via our database (~1000M records, and counting).

Splitbrain.org Encoding/Decoding Tools – This tool helps you to quickly run some text through various different encoding/decoding functions available in PHP. Great for a lot of different decoding possibilities rapidly

CodeBeautify.org Encryption/Decryption Tool – A nice, clean tool for decrypting codes that you know the key for, or encrypting codes with your own original key.

SQLite Viewer for Chrome – Chrome plugin for viewing SQLite databases in your browser. Allows opening and editing of SQLite databases without requiring admin access to install.

Posted: January 13th, 2023

Networking and Operating Systems

CYBER.ORG – 2.8.7 – Common Cryptography Use Cases

Objective:

Summarize the basics of cryptographic concepts.

Resources:

  • See PowerPoint presentation: 2.8.7 – Common Cryptography Use Cases.pptx

Assignment:

  1. Read the 2.8.7 – Common Cryptography Use Cases.pptx presentation. This lesson will introduce you to how and why cryptography is commonly used, and why it is so important.
  2. Please read through the presentation by the end of the day on Tuesday, December 6th.

Assigned: December 6th, 2022
Teacher Pacing Due Date: December 6th, 2022

Networking and Operating Systems

CYBER.ORG – 2.8.3 Quantum Cryptography and Ephemeral Keys & 2.8.4 Cryptography Modes of Operation and Blockchains

Objective:

Summarize the basics of cryptographic concepts.

Resources:

  • See PowerPoint presentations: 2.8.3 Quantum Cryptography and Ephemeral Keys.pptx, 2.8.4 Cryptography Modes of Operation and Blockchains.pptx

Assignment:

  1. Read the 2.8.3 Quantum Cryptography and Ephemeral Keys.pptx presentation. This lesson will introduce you to Quantum Cryptography, Ephemeral Keys and their importance in securing data.
  2. Next, read the 2.8.4 Cryptography Modes of Operation and Blockchains.pptx presentation. This lesson will introduce you to Cryptography modes and the concept of a Blockchain.
  3. Please read through both of these by the end of the day on Tuesday, November 29th.

Assigned: November 28th, 2022
Teacher Pacing Due Date: November 29th, 2022

Networking and Operating Systems

National Cyber League Resources: Cryptography Links – Spring 2022

Objective: 

Students will continue preparing for competition in the National Cyber League by familiarizing themselves with common cryptographic methods so that they can effectively identify and decrypt encrypted messages and data.

Topics Discussed:

  • Cryptography
  • Ciphertext
  • Plaintext

Links:

This list is maintained as a resource for students competing in the National Cyber League competition to assist in identification and solution of the presented Cryptography puzzles. If you find any good online Cryptography resources in your travels, let me know and I will add them to the list!

Cryptii – A very cool and very fast “modular” decryption tool that lets you run a string of text through several encryption/decryption methods of your choice.

Dcode.fr – An outstanding French website that offers automatic decoding for a large variety of encryptions. Features include a powerful cipher identifier (that automatically recognizes more than 200 ciphers), decoding tools for the Caesar cipher, Vigenere cipher, Polybius’ square, and dozens of other encryptions.

The Black Chamber – A great collection of interactive tools that explain and allow you to decrypt a variety of common (and some uncommon) encoding schemes.

Tools for Noobs: Online Decryption Tool – Decrypts a string using various algorithms (e.g. Blowfish, DES, TripleDES, Enigma).

MD5hashing.net Encryption and Decryption – At md5hashing.net you can hash (encrypt) any string into 66 different hash types. As you probably know – decryption of any hash is impossible, but they offer reverse decryption via our database (~1000M records, and counting).

Splitbrain.org Encoding/Decoding Tools – This tool helps you to quickly run some text through various different encoding/decoding functions available in PHP. Great for a lot of different decoding possibilities rapidly

CodeBeautify.org Encryption/Decryption Tool – A nice, clean tool for decrypting codes that you know the key for, or encrypting codes with your own original key.

SQLite Viewer for Chrome – Chrome plugin for viewing SQLite databases in your browser. Allows opening and editing of SQLite databases without requiring admin access to install.

Posted: February 17th, 2022

Networking and Operating Systems

CYBER.ORG – 2.8.7 – Common Cryptography Use Cases

Objective:

Summarize the basics of cryptographic concepts.

Resources:

  • See PowerPoint presentation: 2.8.7 – Common Cryptography Use Cases.pptx

Assignment:

  1. Read the 2.8.7 – Common Cryptography Use Cases.pptx presentation. This lesson will introduce you to how and why cryptography is commonly used, and why it is so important.
  2. Please read through the presentation by the end of the day on Monday, November 22nd.

Assigned: November 22nd, 2021
Teacher Pacing Due Date: November 22nd, 2021

Networking and Operating Systems

CYBER.ORG – 2.8.5 – Block Ciphers and Lightweight Cryptography, 2.8.6 – Steganography and Homomorphic Encryption

Objective:

Summarize the basics of cryptographic concepts.

Resources:

  • See PowerPoint presentations: 2.8.5 – Block Ciphers and Lightweight Cryptography, 2.8.6 – Steganography and Homomorphic Encryption

Assignment:

  1. Read the 2.8.5 – Block Ciphers and Lightweight Cryptography.pptx presentation. This lesson will introduce you to cryptographic methodologies and discuss their benefits and drawbacks.
  2. Next, read the 2.8.6 – Steganography and Homomorphic Encryption.pptx presentation. This lesson will introduce you to the concept of Steganography, which we will be working with for the next couple of class meetings.
  3. Please read through both of these by the end of the day on Monday, November 15th, as we will be performing a Steganography Lab in class tomorrow.

Assigned: November 15th, 2021
Teacher Pacing Due Date: November 15th, 2021

Networking and Operating Systems

CYBER.ORG – Extra Credit Lab – Passwords

Objective: Explain cryptography algorithms and their basic characteristics.

Resources:

  • See attached PowerPoint presentation: Lab – Passwords

Assignment:

  1. Complete the lab in the Lab – Passwords.pptx presentation.
  2. This is an advanced lab that involves password hashing, so it is being presented as an extra credit opportunity.
  3. To submit proof of completion for this lab, post the plaintext the three passwords you created at the end of the lab (SHA-512, MD5 and SHA-256) into the provided form in today’s Google Classroom post.

Assigned: April 9th, 2021
Teacher Pacing Due Date: April 12th, 2021

Networking and Operating Systems

CYBER.ORG – Extra Credit Lab – 6.2.6 Obfuscation

Objective: Explain cryptography algorithms and their basic characteristics.

Resources:

  • See PowerPoint presentation: Lab – Obfuscation

Assignment:

  1. Complete the lab in the Lab – Obfuscation.pptx presentation.
  2. This is an advanced lab that involves Python scripting, so it is being presented as an extra credit opportunity.
  3. To submit proof of completion for this lab, post the plaintext of your obfuscated script into the provided form in today’s Google Classroom post.

Assigned: April 7th, 2021
Teacher Pacing Due Date: April 9th, 2021

Networking and Operating Systems

CYBER.ORG – 6.3.1 – Wireless Cryptographic Protocols

Objective: Given a scenario, install and configure wireless security settings.

Resources:

  • See PowerPoint presentation: 6.3.1 Wireless Cryptographic Protocols

Assignment:

  1. Begin reading the 6.3.1 Wireless Cryptographic Protocols.pptx presentation.

Assigned: April 5th, 2021
Teacher Pacing Due Date: April 6th, 2021