The Beaufort cipher is a type of substitution cipher, similar to the Vigenère cipher, used for encryption and decryption of messages. It was invented by the British Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort in the early 19th century, and it operates based on a polyalphabetic substitution method. In the Beaufort cipher, a keyword is used to create a grid or tabula recta, just like in the Vigenère cipher.
Block cipher modes of operation are techniques that enhance the security and functionality of block ciphers, which are encryption algorithms that operate on fixed-size blocks of data (typically 64 or 128 bits at a time). Since block ciphers can only process data in fixed-size chunks, modes of operation are used to define how to encrypt data larger than the block size and to provide various security properties. There are several common modes of operation, each with its own use cases, advantages, and disadvantages.
Dante C. Youla is a prominent figure in the field of electrical engineering, particularly known for his contributions to control theory and signal processing. He is perhaps best known for the Youla-Kucharavy parameterization, which provides a framework for the design and analysis of controllers in control systems. His work has had a significant impact on modern control theory, especially in the context of linear systems and optimal control.
Dynamic encryption is a method of encrypting data that changes over time or is generated in real-time, providing enhanced security by ensuring that the encryption keys or algorithms used are not static. This approach can effectively protect data from unauthorized access, especially in scenarios where data is frequently updated or transmitted.
A Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack is a type of cyberattack where an attacker intercepts communication between two parties without their knowledge. The attacker secretly relays and possibly alters the communication between the two parties, who believe they are directly communicating with each other. This type of attack allows the hacker to eavesdrop on the conversation, collect sensitive information, or manipulate the data being transmitted.
"SecureLog" can refer to a few different concepts or products, depending on the context. Generally, it relates to logging systems or services designed to enhance security by ensuring that log data is protected against tampering, unauthorized access, and breaches. 1. **Logging Systems**: In cybersecurity, secure logging systems keep detailed records of system activities, user interactions, and security events. These logs are crucial for security audits, forensic investigations, and compliance with regulations.
Aircrack-ng is a suite of tools used for network security assessments, specifically designed for analyzing, cracking, and securing Wi-Fi networks. It focuses on various aspects of Wi-Fi security, including monitoring, attacking, testing, and cracking WEP and WPA/WPA2 encryption protocols. The suite consists of several components, each serving a specific purpose: 1. **Airmon-ng**: Used to enable monitor mode on wireless network interfaces, allowing them to capture packets from the air.
A length extension attack is a type of cryptographic attack that exploits certain properties of hash functions, particularly those that are based on the Merkle-Damgård construction, which many widely used hash functions (like MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256) follow. This attack allows an attacker to extend the hash of a message without needing to know the original message itself.
A "black bag operation" refers to a covert operation in which individuals, typically spies or intelligence agents, break into a facility, home, or secure location to gather information, retrieve sensitive documents, or plant listening devices. This term often implies clandestine activities that are carried out without the permission or knowledge of the target.
A **ciphertext-only attack** is a type of cryptographic attack in which an attacker attempts to break a cipher and retrieve the original plaintext message by analyzing only the ciphertext—the encrypted message—without any access to the plaintext or the key used for encryption. In other words, the attacker only has the output of the encryption process and tries to deduce information about the input.
Coppersmith's attack is a cryptographic attack that was developed by Don Coppersmith in the 1990s. It specifically targets RSA cryptosystems and certain types of modular arithmetic problems. The key idea behind the attack is to exploit mathematical weaknesses in RSA when certain conditions are met, particularly when the private key \(d\) (or other parameters) is small in relation to the modulus \(n\).
A distinguishing attack is a type of cryptographic attack aimed at determining whether a given cryptographic algorithm or function is behaving like it should, or whether it is behaving differently (e.g., due to a weakness or flaw). The main goal of a distinguishing attack is to differentiate between the outputs of a cryptographic function (like a pseudorandom function or cipher) and the outputs of a truly random function.
Duqu is a type of malware that was discovered in 2011 and is associated with sophisticated cyber espionage activities. It is believed to be linked to the same group responsible for the Stuxnet worm, which targeted Iran's nuclear facilities. Duqu functions primarily as a framework for collecting information from infected systems. Its architecture allows it to communicate with its command and control servers to exfiltrate data.
Impossible differential cryptanalysis is a type of cryptanalysis that targets symmetric-key ciphers, particularly block ciphers. It exploits specific properties of the cipher’s structure and its round functions to find key candidates that lead to a contradiction in the expected behavior of the cipher.
The EFF DES cracker refers to a project carried out by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in the late 1990s to demonstrate the vulnerabilities of the Data Encryption Standard (DES) cipher. The project culminated in the construction of a custom-built hardware device specifically designed to break DES encryption by brute force.
A key-recovery attack is a type of cryptographic attack in which an adversary aims to recover a secret key used in a cryptographic algorithm. This type of attack can be applied to various encryption schemes, including symmetric and asymmetric cryptography. The goal of the attack is to find the key without directly breaking the encryption, allowing the attacker to decrypt messages or forge signatures.
The Lucky Thirteen attack is a vulnerability found in the TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol, specifically affecting implementations of TLS that utilize certain block cipher modes of operation, particularly those related to the handling of padding. The attack was revealed in 2013 and exploits how the protocol manages the timing of when encrypted data is processed during a session.
Microsoft Office password protection is a security feature integrated into Microsoft Office applications (such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) that allows users to restrict access to their documents and files by requiring a password. This feature helps to ensure that only authorized users can view or edit the content of a file, making it useful for protecting sensitive information.

Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project

Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
We have two killer features:
  1. topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculus
    Articles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
    • a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
    • a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
    This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
    Figure 1.
    Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page
    . View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivative
  2. local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:
    This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
    Figure 2.
    You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either https://OurBigBook.com or as a static website
    .
    Figure 3.
    Visual Studio Code extension installation
    .
    Figure 4.
    Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation
    .
    Figure 5.
    Web editor
    . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.
    Video 3.
    Edit locally and publish demo
    . Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.
    Video 4.
    OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo
    . Source.
  3. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook-media/master/feature/x/hilbert-space-arrow.png
  4. Infinitely deep tables of contents:
    Figure 6.
    Dynamic article tree with infinitely deep table of contents
    .
    Descendant pages can also show up as toplevel e.g.: ourbigbook.com/cirosantilli/chordate-subclade
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact