The Poker Nerd

As reported in Dr. Dobb’s Journal, a brute-force attack exploiting MD5 “collisions” has been used to crack cyphertext generated by the MD5 hashing algorithm.The MD5 algorithm is used extensively in security systems like SSL, a protocol you use every time you go to a website that starts with “https://.” (more…)

In Neal Stephenson’s book, Cryptonomicon, the character Enoch Root describes a low-tech, but arguably secure encryption algorithm which he calls both Solitaire (to describe its nature) and Pontifex (to obscure the fact that it’s done with two decks of cards.) The algorithm, invented by Bruce Schneier, author of Applied Cryptography, is an output-feedback mode stream cipher that uses a deck of cards for the cyphertext and can use a second deck of cards for the key. Schneier describes the algorithm in detail on his website. (more…)

This weekend, I was kicking around a particularly large problem with HomeGame that I still don’t have an answer for. It’s the dilemma of self-dealing. Here’s the problem in a nutshell: In a self-dealt game, the dealer doesn’t know the cards he’s dealing out, but the person receiving them does. However, the dealer also has to be able to verify that the cards each player turns up are, in fact, the cards they were dealt.

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