Volume VII · Crypto

One-way functions, RSA, the discrete log — and the stories Shor makes false.

Crypto is a one-way function plus a story about what is hard. RSA’s story is factoring. Diffie–Hellman’s is a discrete log. Shor is a machine that makes both stories false.

Start with the clock Skip to RSA

In English

Crypto is a one-way trick plus a story about what is hard. RSA’s story: factoring big numbers is hard. Diffie–Hellman’s: finding a hidden exponent is hard. Shor is a quantum machine that makes both stories false. AES and hashes get a haircut, not a funeral.

Try this: Start with the clock (Mod). Skip to RSA if you just want the lock. End at The threat for what still stands.
Keep this: Public-key crypto is “this math is hard.” Shor disputes some of those stories, not all of them.

The stack · click a layer

What this is

Tiny moduli you can factor by hand, a discrete-log hunt you can watch, RSA that opens, a hash that avalanches, and a stack of what Shor actually kills.

What this is not

Not OpenSSL and not a 2048-bit threat model. The numbers are toys so the algebra is visible. The claims (RSA is factoring, DH is a discrete log, Grover is only quadratic) are the real ones.