[Cryptography] Which big-name ciphers have been broken in living memory?

Ben Laurie ben at links.org
Sun Sep 28 08:49:11 EDT 2014


On 26 August 2014 20:21, Bear <bear at sonic.net> wrote:
> Math doesn't go stale.

On this narrow point, maths absolutely does go stale - the history of
maths is littered with proofs that turned out to be wrong in some
detail. It's even taught that way - i.e. incorrect but nearly OK
proofs at one level that you then throw away and replace with
something more complex (and more right) at the next level (calculus is
particularly memorable in this respect).

On the whole process of proof and refutation Lakatos' book
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofs_and_Refutations) is a really
enjoyable read.


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