Beginner

Why Privacy Matters “I have nothing to hide.” You’ve probably said this, or heard someone say it. It’s the most common response when privacy comes up. And it’s completely wrong. Privacy isn’t about hiding crimes. Privacy is about power—who has it, and who doesn’t. The Real Cost of “Nothing to Hide” When you say you have nothing to hide, you’re assuming: The rules will never change You’ll never be targeted unfairly No one will ever misuse your data Your information will never be stolen History proves all of these assumptions wrong. ...

Installing Linux Windows and macOS are surveillance operating systems. That sounds dramatic, but it’s literally true. Both send telemetry data to Microsoft and Apple by default. Both have settings scattered across dozens of menus that reset after updates. Both prioritize their business interests over your privacy. Linux is different. On Linux, you decide what data leaves your computer. There’s no corporation harvesting your usage patterns, no ads in your start menu, no forced updates that reset your settings. ...

Browser Privacy Your browser is your window to the internet. It’s also the primary tool corporations use to track you. Every website you visit is watching: What pages you view and for how long What you click on and where your mouse moves Your screen size, fonts, and timezone Your browsing history through tracking cookies Your real IP address and approximate location This isn’t paranoia. This is how the modern web works. Websites embed tracking code from Google, Facebook, Amazon, and hundreds of data brokers. A single webpage can contact 50+ tracking domains before you see any content. ...

Password Managers If you reuse passwords, your security is an illusion. The reality: Billions of passwords leak every year. When smallforum.com gets hacked, attackers try those leaked passwords on Gmail, banks, and every major service. If you reused that password, your accounts are compromised. The average person has 100+ online accounts. You cannot remember 100 unique, strong passwords. You need a password manager. This week, you’ll set up a password manager—software that generates and stores unique passwords for every account. You’ll never reuse a password again. ...

Email Privacy Gmail reads every email you send and receive. That’s not an exaggeration. Google scans your emails to: Build advertising profiles Train AI models on your conversations Track purchase history and receipts Identify your contacts and relationships Monitor your location through confirmation emails Google knows more about your life than your closest friends. They know when you’re job hunting (LinkedIn alerts), having health issues (doctor appointment confirmations), traveling (flight confirmations), and buying things (every receipt). ...

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) ...