Episode 139: Cybersecurity and Cryptocurrencies

The Science of Everything Podcast

James Fodor

Natural Sciences, Science, Social Sciences

4.8 • 750 Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2023

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

An introduction to cryptography, internet security, and cryptocurrency, beginning with an overview of RSA cryptography and covering the use of public and private keys and their incorporation into the Transport Layer Security protocol used for secure internet communications. We then examine the key features of cryptocurrencies, including the blockchain, proof of work consensus mechanism, the use of hash functions, and the role of crypto mining. We conclude with a discussion of some of the advantages and disadvantages of cryptocurrencies, including their anonymity, volatility, use in crime, and environmental impacts. If you enjoyed the podcast please consider supporting the show by making a PayPal donation or becoming a Patreon supporter. https://www.patreon.com/jamesfodor https://www.paypal.me/ScienceofEverything

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh, wow, oh, oh, wow, oh, wow, oh, wow.
0:13.0	Oh, wow.
0:15.0	Oh, my. Hello, you're listening to The Sides of Everything podcast, episode 139, Cybersecurity and
0:40.6	Cryptocurrencies. I'm your host, James Fodor. In this episode, we're going to give a
0:46.2	brief, but hopefully a reasonably comprehensive introduction to some basics in computer security
0:52.0	and also look at cryptocurrencies and the blockchain.
0:56.2	So these are a few different ideas that I decided to put together into a single episode.
1:00.3	They're related, but distinct.
1:01.8	I mean, we could potentially do one or more episodes on each of these topics,
1:05.6	but I thought it might be better to give a simpler overview and put a few things together.
1:11.3	So we're going to start by talking about the basis of how information is sent securely over
1:17.8	the internet, that is RSA cryptography, and then we'll look at the transport layer security
1:22.4	system, which is a protocol that underpins the internet today.
1:26.6	And then we'll progress to talking about
1:28.3	cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, so how that technology works and how transactions are made
1:33.5	and how the security arrangement works, and conclude by looking at some of the pros and cons of
1:39.6	cryptocurrency as a currency. So if you like, the first part of the episode will be focused on the
1:45.2	crypto part and the second part of the episode will be focused on the currency part, if you
1:49.5	want to think of it that way. There are no recommended pre-listing prerequisites for this episode,
1:55.6	so we can just jump straight in and begin by talking about RSA cryptography.
2:01.8	So cryptography is the science of sending and decrypting information in a secure way,
2:08.0	or storing information securely as well.
	...

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