A CryptoParty is an event to pass on knowledge about protecting yourself in the digital space. This includes anything from defending yourself on the web to securing your messaging.

You can learn how to keep malicious attackers away from your communications, your finances, and your personal thoughts and ideas. CryptoParties are free for everyone and for all to attend, especially those without prior knowledge. Cryptography is key to protecting our information in many of the interactions we have throughout our day.

Crypto is everywhere. It surrounds us.

~ Morpheus

We began the day discussing why crypto matters in todays digital world. Crypto is everywhere, and is vitally important to our privacy, security, and identity. We discussed the basics of cryptography, its origins, types of crypto, and the security services crypto provides; secure mobile messaging with Signal, a private alternative to calling, texting, and video chat; Tor and i2p, their functionality and components, and their similarities and differences; and the importance of internet anonymity to promote free speech and democracy.

We then talked about Bitcoin, the advent of the blockchain, Namecoin and anti-censorship, and innovations to other areas of science using a blockchain; PGP, its usage, popular integrations to make PGP easy, and the web of trust; HTTPS Everywhere, Let’s Encrypt, and TLS; the benefits of password managers like KeePassX and LastPass, and authenticating with Yubi Keys using one time passwords and public key crypto; secure instant messaging with OTR and OMEMO, as well as using Ricochet for anonymous IM; the benefits and threats to cryptography with the innovations in quantum computing and the possibilities of quantum cryptography.

We then installed and configured various tools, generated keys, and discussed issues such as having a high quality entropy source or whether containers were adequate isolation. We also discussed threat modeling, and attacks on your phone using social engineering and vulnerabilities in SS7. Someone had their Yubi Key available to show, and it was really neat being able to see a hardware bitcoin wallet in person as well.

Thank you to all who attended, we had some great discussions about the threats to our privacy and security. Can’t wait until the next CryptoParty!

Special thanks to our sponsors @spyrosoft (www) and @extra_galactic! We provide secure application development and hosting, and enjoy taking every precaution with the security and privacy of your data. Feel free to contact us if you have a project requiring sensitive security considerations.

You can find the Santa Cruz CryptoParty page at cryptoparty.in/SantaCruz for future events.

If you’re on Facebook, like the Santa Cruz CryptoParty page!

Below are the slides for reference, please leave any questions in the comments below!