1nvest wrote:In cryptography there is only one truly secure method, a one time pad created using a real random source and where the keys are at least as long as the message being encrypted and where the keys are only used once. That requires pre-shared keys (pad) that are passed physically/directly, not transmitted through communications layers. Even then all valid potential versions of the message (that make sense) may still be visible to a attacker, just that they wont be able to definitively say which was the actual message, but could still potentially point to the most probable version. In all other cases cryptography is based upon mathematical difficulty to solve, that as computing power grows takes increasingly less time to solve. Secure/private at the time, but with time-limits on the period of privacy.
I'm going to ignore most of this post as it doesn't relate to the concept of using cyrptography to allow trustless communication, but remarks upon how cryptography ages.
However I am going to use it for a book recommendation.
It's fiction, but well researched and a good read.
In his legendary, sprawling masterpiece, Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cryptonomicon- ... th=1&psc=1