Explore Go: Cryptography

Would you like to learn how passwords are securely stored? What makes a password strong? How are codes and ciphers created and broken? Where do random numbers come from and why are they considered random? What connections exist between lava lamps, cosmic games, digital signatures, black holes, and bitcoins? Let's find out!

Join the adventures of Alice, Bob, Eve, and Mallory to explore the basic principles of cryptography and digital security—from brute force attacks and blockchains to key spaces and hashing. In this book, you will build your own encryption system in Go from scratch by following step-by-step instructions and code examples at each stage (also available on GitHub).

We will start with the simplest cipher, gradually improving the system, analyzing its vulnerabilities, and adding complex features such as block chains, padding, digests, and authentication. Along the way, you will develop a deep intuitive understanding of ciphers and keys, learn what makes them strong (or weak), and how to use them safely.

You will understand how modern algorithms like AES, SHA-256, Diffie-Hellman, and RSA work, and how to integrate them into real tools in Go. This book will become an indispensable guide for all Go developers facing encryption, authentication, and security challenges... in other words, for every one of us!

What you will learn:

By reading this book and completing practical assignments, you will master:

• Basic principles of codes and ciphers
• Testing and developing software in Go
• Creating useful command-line tools
• Password security, key spaces, and cracking
• Modes of cipher operations: block, stream, and chained
• Padding, numeral systems, and byte order
• Random and pseudo-random number generators
• Entropy, complexity, and quantum uncertainty
• Attacks, random numbers, and initialization vectors
• Integrity checking and message authentication
• MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, and SHA-3
• Cryptocurrencies, key exchange, and asymmetric encryption
• Public keys: Diffie-Hellman and RSA
• The inner structure of AES/Rijndael
• AES-256 and AES-GCM
• Modern cryptography using the Go standard library
• Post-quantum cryptography

This book will teach you to encrypt, protect, and develop robust solutions using Go!