Cypherpunk 101 Curriculum
12 weeks. Zero to crypto-capable. All hands-on.
Current Status: Weeks 1-4 are live. Start now. New weeks release as completed.
Quick Start
| Week | Topic | Parts | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Cypherpunk Ideals & Threat Modeling | 1a 1b 1c | 🟢 Available |
| Week 2 | Cryptography Fundamentals | 2a 2b 2c | 🟢 Available |
| Week 3 | GnuPG & Digital Signatures | 3a 3b 3c 3d | 🟢 Available |
| Week 4 | Encrypted Filesystems & Containers | 1 part | 🟢 Available |
| Week 5 | SSH Deep Dive | 1 part | 🔵 Coming Soon |
| Week 6 | Messaging, Email & Metadata | 1 part | 🔵 Coming Soon |
| Week 7 | Tor & Onion Routing | 2 parts | 🔵 Coming Soon |
| Week 8 | Compartmentalization & VMs | 2 parts | 🔵 Coming Soon |
| Week 9 | Physical Security & Airgaps | 3 parts | 🔵 Coming Soon |
| Week 10 | Bash Scripting & Automation | 2 parts | 🔵 Coming Soon |
| Week 11 | System Hardening | 4 parts | 🔵 Coming Soon |
| Week 12 | Capstone Projects | 3 parts | 🔵 Coming Soon |
📚 Course Overview
- Total Duration: 12 weeks
- Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per week
- Skill Level: Beginner-friendly (basic Linux CLI knowledge required)
- Cost: Free forever
- Format: Self-paced, hands-on labs
📊 Learning Path
Week 1-3: Foundations (philosophy, crypto, GPG)
↓
Week 4-5: Secure everything (communications, storage)
↓
Week 6-8: Network like a ghost (Tor, SSH, identity)
↓
Week 9-10: Automate and integrate (scripting, projects)
↓
Week 11-12: Advanced concepts (distributed systems, protocols)
Week-by-Week Details
✅ Week 1: Cypherpunk Ideals & Threat Modeling
Status: 🟢 Available Now | Difficulty: Beginner | Time: 4-5 hours
Parts:
- Week 1a: Cypherpunk Philosophy & The Manifesto
- Week 1b: Threat Modeling & Environment Setup
- Week 1c: Journal, Culture & Course Overview
What You’ll Learn:
- The cypherpunk manifesto and philosophy
- Building your personal threat model
- Setting up a secure development environment
- Understanding adversaries and attack vectors
What You’ll Build:
- Your personal threat model document
- Secure Linux workspace
✅ Week 2: Cryptography Fundamentals
Status: 🟢 Available Now | Difficulty: Beginner | Time: 5-6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 1
Parts:
- Week 2a: Hash Functions & Cryptographic Fingerprints
- Week 2b: Symmetric Encryption & Key Derivation
- Week 2c: Entropy, Encoding & Encrypted Workflows
What You’ll Learn:
- Hash functions (SHA-256) and why MD5 is broken
- Symmetric encryption with AES-256-GCM
- Encryption modes (why ECB leaks, why GCM is recommended)
- Key Derivation Functions (Argon2, scrypt, PBKDF2)
- Entropy, randomness, and Linux RNG sources
- Base64/hex encoding for binary data
What You’ll Build:
- File integrity verification with SHA-256
- Encrypted file workflows with OpenSSL
- Complete encrypt-hash-verify pipeline
✅ Week 3: GnuPG & Digital Signatures
Status: 🟢 Available Now | Difficulty: Beginner | Time: 5-6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 2
Parts:
- Week 3a: GPG Introduction & Key Generation
- Week 3b: Encryption, Decryption & Digital Signatures
- Week 3c: Key Distribution & Web of Trust
- Week 3d: Key Management & Modern Alternatives
What You’ll Learn:
- GPG keypair generation and management
- Encrypting, decrypting, and signing files
- Web of trust and key distribution
- Modern alternatives (age, Minisign)
✅ Week 4: Encrypted Filesystems & Containers
Status: 🟢 Available Now | Difficulty: Intermediate | Time: 5-6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 3
What You’ll Learn:
- Full disk encryption with LUKS
- Encrypted filesystems (gocryptfs)
- Secure containers and encrypted backups
- Key management strategies
🔜 Week 5: SSH Deep Dive
Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 5 hours | Prerequisites: Week 4
What You’ll Learn:
- SSH key authentication and hardening
- SSH tunnels and port forwarding
- Jump boxes and bastion hosts
- Certificate-based SSH authentication
🔜 Week 6: Messaging, Email & Metadata
Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 5-6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 5
What You’ll Learn:
- Private messaging (Signal, Element/Matrix)
- Encrypted email with GPG
- Metadata hygiene and what it reveals
- Communication protocol analysis
🔜 Week 7: Tor & Onion Routing
Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 6
Parts: 7a (Intro to Tor & Onion Routing) · 7b (Advanced Tor, VPNs, Bridges & Relays)
What You’ll Learn:
- Tor network architecture and usage
- VPNs vs. Tor (when to use each)
- Bridges, relays, and running a relay
- Correlation attacks and limitations
🔜 Week 8: Compartmentalization & VMs
Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 5-6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 7
Parts: 8a (Compartmentalization & Virtual Machines) · 8b (Whonix, Tails & Practical Compartmentalization)
What You’ll Learn:
- Operational security (OpSec) principles
- Virtual machines for identity isolation
- Whonix and Tails for anonymous computing
- Practical compartmentalization strategies
🔜 Week 9: Physical Security & Airgaps
Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 8
Parts: 9a (Physical Security & Airgap Architecture) · 9b (Building Airgapped Systems) · 9c (USB Threats & Field Kit)
What You’ll Learn:
- Physical security fundamentals
- Airgapped system design and data transfer
- USB threat vectors and defenses
- Building a field security kit
🔜 Week 10: Bash Scripting & Automation
Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 9
Parts: 10a (Bash Scripting for Security & GPG Automation) · 10b (Cron Scheduling & Security Maintenance)
What You’ll Learn:
- Bash scripting for security tasks
- GPG automation workflows
- Cron jobs and systemd timers
- Security maintenance automation
🔜 Week 11: System Hardening
Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Advanced | Estimated Time: 6-8 hours | Prerequisites: Week 10
Parts: 11a (Why Hardening Matters) · 11b (MAC Systems & Auditing) · 11c (Kernel Hardening & AppArmor) · 11d (Firejail & Defense Framework)
What You’ll Learn:
- Linux system hardening principles
- Mandatory Access Control (SELinux, AppArmor)
- Kernel hardening with sysctl
- Application sandboxing with Firejail
- Security auditing with Lynis
🔜 Week 12: Capstone Projects
Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Advanced | Estimated Time: 6-8 hours | Prerequisites: Weeks 1-11
Parts: 12a (Choose Your Path) · 12b (Project Planning & Integration) · 12c (Example Capstone & Final Checklist)
What You’ll Learn:
- Combining all previous weeks’ skills
- End-to-end encrypted system design
- Building your personal privacy infrastructure
- Your complete cypherpunk toolkit
🎓 After Completion
Once you’ve mastered Cypherpunk 101, explore:
- Privacy 101 (Week 1 live now!) - Beginner-friendly, GUI-first privacy fundamentals
- Advanced Cypherpunk (coming later) - Post-quantum crypto, zero-knowledge proofs, advanced protocols
💬 Questions or Feedback?
- Found an error? Report it here (GitHub Issues coming soon)
- Need help? Questions answered as community grows
- Want updates? New weeks are announced as they release