Ever stuttered when someone asked you "So, what is cryptography, anyway?" We're allin infosec but explaining crypto easily and memorably to people without making it too complicated or insulting their intelligence is nontrivial. Keeping it simple is never stupid, and we all need more converts to understanding that crypto isn't magic, it's just a bit of math and trust.
I've explained crypto to project managers, congressional aides, third graders,CEOs, and 7-11 clerks. I've created several memorable analogies and visualaides to help people understand the simple beauty of crypto. You learned everything you need to understand crypto in grade school. After watching this talk, you'll be able to easily explain simple ciphers, transforms, what really happens in a key exchange, a few brief historical facts, and whycrypto is so important. And maybe I'll get to a few of those really dumb jokes we like telling at crypto parties. That one about 2xROT-13 hasn't gotten old yet. Unfortunately.
Born in a log cabin on the prairie to a___ and an itinerant ___, Tarah Wheeler had a humble upbringing of fighting the status quo, sticking it to the man, and shooting prairie dogs because they’re good eatin’. An emeritus member of the Order of the Orange Badge, Tarah has founded or been in the first 10 employees of many successfulcompanies, mostly because she hates filling out job applications. Her lifenow consists mainly of sitting in airplanes, punctuated by writing booksthat smash the patriarchy and giving speeches where she tells people to stop sucking so much at security. No one can guarantee that the old proverb about “liquor in the front, poker in the rear” wasn’t written about Tarah,as she’s a midlevel limit Texas holdem pro with a fondness for highland Scotch and lowland company. Twitter handle of presenter(s): @tarah Website of presenter(s) or content: tarah.org