DEF CON 23 - Eijah - Crypto for Hackers

Hacking is hard. It takes passion, dedication, and an unwavering attention to detail. Hacking requires a breadth of knowledge spread across many domains. We need to have experience with different platforms, operating systems, software packages, tools, programming languages, and technology trends. Being overly deficient in any one of these areas can add hours to our hack, or even worse, bring us total failure. And while all of these things are important for a well-rounded hacker, one of the key areas that is often overlooked is cryptography. In an era dominated by security breaches, an understanding of encryption and hashing algorithms provides a tremendous advantage. We can better hone our attack vectors, especially when looking for security holes. A few years ago I released the first Blu-Ray device key, AA856A1BA814AB99FFDEBA6AEFBE1C04, by exploiting a vulnerability in an implementation of the AACS protocol. As hacks go, it was a simple one. But it was the knowledge of crypto that made it all possible. This presentation is an overview of the most common crypto routines helpful to hackers. We'll review the strengths and weaknesses of each algorithm, which ones to embrace, and which ones to avoid. You'll get C++ code examples, high-level wrapper classes, and an open-source library that implements all the algorithms. We'll even talk about creative ways to merge algorithms to further increase entropy and key strength. If you've ever wanted to learn how crypto can give you an advantage as a hacker, then this talk is for you. With this information you'll be able to maximize your hacks and better protect your personal data. Speaker Bio: Eijah is the founder of demonsaw, a secure and anonymous content sharing platform, and a Senior Programmer at a world-renowned game development studio. He has over 15 years of software development and IT Security experience. His career has covered a broad range of Internet and mid-range technologies, core security, and system architecture. Eijah has been a faculty member at multiple colleges, has spoken about security and development at conferences, and holds a master’s degree in Computer Science. Eijah is an active member of the hacking community and is an avid proponent of Internet freedom.