Assignment 6

The reading for assignment 6, sections 2.9-2.11 brought up interesting applications of randomness and what it is to be truly random. Contrary to what may be the popular belief, most "random" generations are actually pseudo random based on some algorithm created by people. True randomness, the book explains, can be generated by flipping a coin millions of times, or by tracking thermal noise in semiconductors, but these approaches are not always practical or even feasible. The most difficult part of this reading, then, resulted when the book mentioned one way functions to generate a random number. The explanation was not clear and resulted in some confusion as to how the numbers are actually selected. The importance of this method for cryptographic keys is extremely important and a thorough understanding of how these numbers can be generated is necessary for not only understanding of the cryptography, but also for formulating possible attacks against it.

The most astounding part of this reading section was the revelation of the one-time key pad and its workings to reveal a theoretically unbreakable cipher. The existence of an unbreakable cipher in and of itself is remarkable as is the knowledge of it for some time. The security of it, of course, depends upon proper use and precautions but the mere existence of a theoretically unbreakable cipher seems to stand against the constant struggle between cryptographers and cryptanalysis and is intriguing by its own accord. The concept introduced in section 2.11 regarding speed vs. efficiency was also an interesting sidenote, but aside from the use of a binary number system, LFSR sequences struck me as less impressive as the one-time pad cipher.