Foundations

Goal Understand the ethos, purpose, and mindset of a cypherpunk. Learn why privacy matters in the digital age and why “cypherpunks write code.” Prerequisites: Basic Linux CLI familiarity This is Part 1 of 3 - Covers philosophy, history, and the manifesto. 1. What Is a Cypherpunk? “Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn’t want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doesn’t want anybody to know. Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world.” ...

Goal Create your personal threat model identifying what you’re protecting and from whom, then set up your secure development environment for the rest of the course. Prerequisites: Week 1a (Cypherpunk Philosophy) This is Part 2 of 3 - Covers threat modeling and environment setup. 1. What Is Threat Modeling? Threat modeling is the process of identifying what you need to protect, who you’re protecting it from, and how you’ll defend it. ...

Goal Start your learning journal, discover cypherpunk culture and resources, and set clear expectations for success in this course. Prerequisites: Week 1b (Threat Modeling & Environment Setup) This is Part 3 of 3 - Covers journaling, culture, and course roadmap. 1. Start Your Learning Journal Create Your Journal cd ~/cypherpunk-journal nano journal.md First entry template: # Cypherpunk School 101 - Learning Journal ## Week 1: Cypherpunk Ideals & Threat Modeling **Date:** [Today's date] ### What I Learned Today - Read *A Cypherpunk's Manifesto* by Eric Hughes - Learned about the cypherpunk movement's history - Created my first threat model - Set up my cypherpunk development environment - Encrypted my first file with GPG ### Key Insights - Privacy is not the same as secrecy - it's selective revelation - Cryptography empowers individuals against powerful institutions - "Cypherpunks write code" - action over talk - My primary threats are [list your Tier 1-3 threats] ### Aha Moments - [What surprised you?] - [What challenged your assumptions?] - [What excited you about this path?] ### Questions for Further Exploration - How does GPG actually work under the hood? - What makes one encryption algorithm stronger than another? - How can I verify if my current tools are actually private? ### Action Items - [ ] Review threat model weekly - [ ] Practice CLI tools daily - [ ] Start Week 2 exercises - [ ] Recommend one cypherpunk tool to a friend ### Personal Reflection [Your thoughts on why privacy matters to you personally] --- Save and close (Ctrl+X, Y, Enter) ...

Goal Understand cryptographic hash functions: what they do, how they differ from encryption, why some are broken (MD5), and how to use SHA-256 for file integrity verification. Prerequisites: Week 1 (Cypherpunk Ideals & Threat Modeling) This is Part 1 of 3 - Covers hashing fundamentals and integrity verification. Introduction: Why Cryptography Matters Before we dive into algorithms, let’s understand what we’re building toward: Cryptography is mathematics applied to privacy. It transforms the abstract right to privacy into concrete protection through proofs, not promises. ...

Goal Master symmetric encryption with AES: understand encryption modes (and why ECB is broken), use OpenSSL for file encryption, and learn how Key Derivation Functions transform weak passwords into strong keys. Prerequisites: Week 2a (Hash Functions) This is Part 2 of 3 - Covers symmetric encryption and key derivation. 1. Symmetric Encryption: Shared Secrets What Is Symmetric Encryption? Symmetric encryption uses the same key for both encryption and decryption. Alice Bob | | | "Meet at midnight" + Key123 | |---------> AES Encrypt --------------> | | f8a3b2c1d4e5f6 (ciphertext) | | | | <-------- AES Decrypt <-------------- | | f8a3b2c1d4e5f6 + Key123 | | "Meet at midnight" (plaintext) | Key challenge: How do Alice and Bob agree on “Key123” without anyone else learning it? (Solved in Week 3 with asymmetric crypto) ...

Goal Understand entropy and randomness as the foundation of cryptographic security, learn binary encoding (Base64, hex), and combine everything into practical encrypted workflows with best practices. Prerequisites: Week 2b (Symmetric Encryption) This is Part 3 of 3 - Covers entropy, encoding, workflows, and best practices. 1. Entropy and Randomness: The Foundation of Security What Is Entropy? Entropy is a measure of unpredictability (randomness). In cryptography: High entropy = Truly random, unpredictable Low entropy = Patterns, predictable Why it matters: ...

Goal Understand the public-key cryptography revolution and generate your first GPG keypair. This is the foundation for everything else in the course. Prerequisites: Week 2 (Cryptography Fundamentals) This is Part 1 of 4 - Covers history, concepts, and key generation. Introduction: The Public Key Revolution Week 2 taught you symmetric encryption - Alice and Bob share the same secret key. But how do they exchange that key securely? The problem: ...

Goal Master practical GPG operations: understanding your keyring, encrypting files for yourself and others, and creating digital signatures that prove authorship and integrity. Prerequisites: Week 3a (GPG Introduction & Key Generation) This is Part 2 of 4 - Covers keyring management, encryption operations, and signatures. 1. Understanding Your GPG Keyring List All Keys # List public keys gpg --list-keys # Output: pub rsa4096 2025-10-14 [SC] [expires: 2027-10-14] ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234 uid [ultimate] Alice Cypherpunk <[email protected]> sub rsa4096 2025-10-14 [E] [expires: 2027-10-14] Key anatomy: ...

Goal Master public key distribution methods: exporting and importing keys, using keyservers safely, and understanding the Web of Trust model for decentralized identity verification. Prerequisites: Week 3b (Encryption & Signatures) This is Part 3 of 4 - Covers key distribution, keyservers, and web of trust. 1. Public Key Distribution and Import Export Your Public Key # Export in ASCII armor (shareable format) gpg --armor --export [email protected] > alice-public-key.asc # View the exported key cat alice-public-key.asc Output: ...

Goal Complete your GPG mastery with key lifecycle management (rotation, revocation, backup), practical email encryption, and understanding when to use modern alternatives like age for simpler use cases. Prerequisites: Week 3c (Key Distribution & Web of Trust) This is Part 4 of 4 - Covers key management, email encryption, and modern alternatives. 1. Key Management: Rotation, Revocation, and Backup Extending Key Expiration Your key expires in 2 years. Before expiration: ...