Home / Agenda / Cryptography for developers

Cryptography for developers

When building web applications, we use regularly use aspects of cryptography, for instance https/SSL or encrypting URL parameters so that users can't easily change them and break your app. Hardly anyone knows about the actually quite important details of cryptography though. This talk will fill your knowledge gap without having to have obtained a PhD in Math (which certainly would help though :)

• Difficulty: Experienced

Session Detail

After introducing some basic terms like secret, authentication and protocols we'll have a look at the basics of symmetric and asymmetric cryptography. You will learn what one-way-, hash- and trapdoor-one-way-functions are all about and how they provide the math behind a lot of cryptographic procedures. After that we'll talk about the pros and cons of some algorithms and have a look at protocols as well as multiparty computations, problems of electronic currency and online elections as well as encryption key management.

Please note: This is not a talk about security for web development. We're not covering topics like how to prevent XSS attacks or SQL injection. This is about the foundation of encrypting and decrypting data and making sure that your chosen cryptographic methods and protocols are appropriate and as hard to circumvent or break as possible.

Speakers

Kai Koenig (Wellington, NZ)

Kai is a German Software Solutions Architect living in New Zealand by choice but working internationally. He has just started a new venture as a self-employed consultant for Adobe and other web technologies under the brand Ventego Creative. Before that he spent a few years working as a Software Solutions Architect for Marcomedia and Adobe partner companies in Europe and New Zealand. More...