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The Princeton Packet
Library talk on cryptography begins technology series
By: Jennifer Potash , Staff Writer
06/01/2004
Expert promises a nontechnical approach.
No decoder rings are needed for an upcoming talk about the science of
computer cryptography at the Princeton Public Library, but curious minds
will be welcome.
The library kicks off the summer series of its popular Tuesday
Technology Talks program at 7 p.m. today with a lecture by Brian Kernighan,
a professor at Princeton University's Computer Science Department.
Mr. Kernighan, who often gives talks for nontechnical audiences, will
lead an examination of how modern cryptography works, where it is used,
some of the places where it hasn't worked well and a bit of cryptopolitics.
Janie Herman, a reference librarian and founder of the series, said
cryptography has come a long way since the days when Julius Caesar encoded
messages by shifting the alphabet over a few places and when the British
decoded the German Enigma machine during World War II.
"Today, cryptography is at the heart of security for our computers at
home and at work," she said. "It lets us buy and sell securely over the
Internet and it's relied on by both the good guys and bad guys to keep
their secrets safe."
Ms. Herman said she's thrilled to have a speaker of Dr. Kernighan's
stature as a guest for the series - he played key roles in the development
of the Unix and C computer languages, and authored numerous books about
programming in various computer languages.
But don't call him an expert on cryptography - he claims to cringe when
he saw that word used in another article promoting his library talk.
"My interest in cryptography is more of a dilettante interest," he said
with a laugh.
His talk, stripped of the jargon and tech speak found in his classroom
lectures, will be split between a historical perspective on the
cryptography used by the Romans on clay tablets to the codes used by spies
in World War II and ending with the modern uses.
Basically, the difference between cryptography then and now is the size
of the numbers used for the encoding - in the premedieval days cryptography
might be more a matter of shifting letters around while today the numbers
are big, but not infinitely so, Dr. Kernighan said.
The mathematics used in the encoding process were developed back in the
18th century and largely remain unchanged today, he said.
Cryptography works by arranging information in a series of coded
numbers accessible only to users with the correct key, he said.
In practical terms, a user typing in a credit card number to make a
purchase at an online business would have the sensitive information encoded
to keep it safe from any unauthorized users, he said.
While the early days of Internet sales brought tales of thefts of
customers' credit card numbers, today the enterprise is much safer, Dr.
Kernighan said. The problems with credit card number theft are more of a
bricks-and-mortar problem.
"It's like sending your credit card number in an armored truck to a
cardboard box," he said.
Cryptography has also turned up in popular culture such as the Matrix
movies and the best selling novel "The Da Vinci Code."
The novel didn't appeal to Dr. Kernighan. "I thought the writing was
horrible," he said. Also, the study of smaller codes based on letters is
really not what he researches.
Dr. Kernighan, who received his doctorate from Princeton University in
1969, worked for Bell Labs in the computing science research center in
Murray Hill until 2000.
After a few stints as an adjunct professor at Princeton and Harvard
universities, Dr. Kernighan decided to take up teaching full time.
"It's a great place to have a second childhood," said Dr. Kernighan,
who resides in Princeton Borough with his wife.
Princeton Public Library is at 65 Witherspoon St. in Princeton Borough.
Special assistance is available for library customers with disabilities.
Those with special needs should contact the library 48 hours before any
program to arrange for accommodations. Call (609) 924-9529.
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"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
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