Security Cryptography Whatever – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The Python cryptography module, pyca/cryptography, has mostly been a sane wrapper around a pile of C, so that users get performant cryptography on the many, many platforms Python targets. Therefore its maintainers, Alex Gaynor and Paul Kehrer, have become intimately familiar with OpenSSL. Recently, they declared that after many years of trying to make it work, they announced pyca/cryptography would be moving away from OpenSSL when supporting new functionality and exploring adding other backends instead. We invited them on to tell us about what has happened to OpenSSL, even after the investments and improvements following Heartbleed. No guests on this pod represent anyone besides themselves.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEKBHI3rodY

Transcript: https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2026/02/01/python-cryptography-breaks-up-with-openssl

Links:
- https://cryptography.io/en/latest/statements/state-of-openssl/
- Py Cryptography: https://cryptography.io
- https://archive.openssl-conference.org/2025/presentations/Alex_Gaynor_Paul_Kehrer_The_Python_Cryptographic_Authoritys_OpenSSL_Experience.pdf
- https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2025/08/16/alex-gaynor/
- https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/media-libs/libsdl
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUIguklWwx0
- https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc9180/
- https://docs.openssl.org/3.3/man3/OSSL_PARAM/
- https://openssl.foundation/
- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/issues/17064
- https://www.feistyduck.com/newsletter/issue_132_openssl_performance_still_under_scrutiny
- https://github.com/topazproject/topaz
- https://github.com/actions/runner/issues/1069
- https://crystalhotsauce.com/
- https://openssl-library.org/news/vulnerabilities/#CVE-2025-15467
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus
- https://boringssl.googlesource.com/boringssl/+/aa202db1d7091b88b80f0a58c630c5c1aefc817d
- https://www.ibm.com/products/open-sdk-for-rust-aix
- https://dadrian.io/blog/posts/corporate-support-xz/
- https://peps.python.org/
- https://cryptography.io/en/latest/hazmat/primitives/asymmetric/ed448/
- https://go.dev/blog/fips140
- https://dadrian.io/blog/posts/roll-your-own-crypto/

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is hosted by Deirdre Connolly (@durumcrustulum), Thomas Ptacek (@tqbf), and David Adrian (@dadrian)

The International Association of Cryptologic Research held their regular election using secure voting software called Helios…and lost the keys to decrypt the results, leaving them with no choice but to throw out the vote and call a new election. Hilarity ensues. We welcome special guest Matt Bernhard who actually works on secure voting systems to explain which bits are homomorphically additive or not.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euw_yqAQFI8

Transcript: https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2025/12/30/iacr-helios

Links:

- NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/world/cryptography-group-lost-election-results.html
- IACR Memo: https://www.iacr.org/news/item/27138
- https://www.iacr.org/elections/
- https://vote.heliosvoting.org/faq
- https://github.com/Election-Tech-Initiative/electionguard
- https://www.usenix.org/legacy/events/sec08/tech/full_papers/adida/adida.pdf
- https://www.iacr.org/elections/eVoting/about-helios.html
- https://www.iacr.org/elections/eVoting/
- https://crypto.ethz.ch/publications/files/CrGeSc97b.pdf
- https://electionguard.vote/
- https://eprint.iacr.org/2025/1901
- https://freeandfair.us/blog/open-free-election-technology/
- https://www.starvoting.org/
- https://mbernhard.com/

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is hosted by Deirdre Connolly (@durumcrustulum), Thomas Ptacek (@tqbf), and David Adrian (@dadrian)

Just a few days before turning off the lights, the Biden administration dropped a huge cybersecurity executive order including a lot of good stuff, that hopefully [cross your fingers, knock wood, spin around three times and spit] will last into future administrations. We snagged some time with Carole House, outgoing Special Advisor and Acting Senior Director for Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Policy, National Security Council in the Biden-Harris White House, to give us a brain dump.

And now due to popular demand, with video of our actual human¹ faces! https://youtu.be/Pqw0W2crQiM

Transcript: https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2025/01/20/bidens-cyber-everything-bagel-carole-house/

Links:
- https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-01470
- https://www.wired.com/story/biden-executive-order-cybersecurity-ai-and-more/
- 2022 EO: https://archive.ph/hvzWd
- 2023 EO: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/M-23-16-Update-to-M-22-18-Enhancing-Software-Security-1.pdf
- 2021 EO: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/05/17/2021-10460/improving-the-nations-cybersecurity
- NIST SSDF: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-218.pdf
- https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/04/02/2015-07788/blocking-the-property-of-certain-persons-engaging-in-significant-malicious-cyber-enabled-activities
- IEEPA: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title50/pdf/USCODE-2023-title50-chap35-sec1701.pdf

¹ Actual human faces not guaranteed in all cases

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is hosted by Deirdre Connolly (@durumcrustulum), Thomas Ptacek (@tqbf), and David Adrian (@dadrian)

THE QUANTUM COMPUTERS ARE COMING...right? We got Samuel Jacques and John Schanck at short notice to answer that question plus a bunch of other about error correcting codes, logical qubits, T-gates, and more about Google's new quantum computer Willow.

Transcript: https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2024/12/18/quantum-willow

Links:

- https://blog.google/technology/research/google-willow-quantum-chip/ 
- https://research.google/blog/making-quantum-error-correction-work/
- https://blog.google/technology/google-deepmind/alphaqubit-quantum-error-correction/  
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08449-y
- Sam’s ‘Landscape of Quantum Computing’ chart: https://sam-jaques.appspot.com/quantum\_landscape\_2024  
- The above, originally published in 2021: https://sam-jaques.appspot.com/quantum\_landscape
- https://sam-jaques.appspot.com
- https://jmschanck.info/

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is hosted by Deirdre Connolly (@durumcrustulum), Thomas Ptacek (@tqbf), and David Adrian (@dadrian)

Nothing we have ever recorded on SCW has brought so much joy to
David. However, at several points during the episode, we may have witnessed Matthew Green's soul leave his body.

Our esteemed guests Justin Schuh and Matt Green joined us to debate whether `Dual_EC_DRBG` was intentionally backdoored by the NSA or 'just' a major fuckup.

Transcript: https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2024/12/07/dual-ec-drbg

Links:

- Dicky George at InfiltrateCon 2014, 'Life at Both Ends of the Barrel - An NSA Targeting Retrospective': [https://youtu.be/qq-LCyRp6bU?si=MyTBKomkIVaxSy1Q](https://youtu.be/qq-LCyRp6bU?si=MyTBKomkIVaxSy1Q)
- Dicky George: [https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Digital-Media-Center/Biographies/Biography-View-Page/Article/3330261/richard-dickie-george/](https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Digital-Media-Center/Biographies/Biography-View-Page/Article/3330261/richard-dickie-george/)
- NYTimes on Sigint Enabling Project: [https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/09/05/us/documents-reveal-nsa-campaign-against-encryption.html](https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/09/05/us/documents-reveal-nsa-campaign-against-encryption.html)
- On the Practical Exploitability of Dual EC
in TLS Implementations: [https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity14/sec14-paper-checkoway.pdf](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity14/sec14-paper-checkoway.pdf)
- Wired - Researchers Solve Juniper Backdoor Mystery; Signs Point to NSA [https://www.wired.com/2015/12/researchers-solve-the-juniper-mystery-and-they-say-its-partially-the-nsas-fault/](https://www.wired.com/2015/12/researchers-solve-the-juniper-mystery-and-they-say-its-partially-the-nsas-fault/)
- ProPublica - Revealed: The NSA's Secret Campaign to Crack, Undermine Internet Security [https://www.propublica.org/article/the-nsas-secret-campaign-to-crack-undermine-internet-encryption](https://www.propublica.org/article/the-nsas-secret-campaign-to-crack-undermine-internet-encryption)
- DDoSecrets - Sigint Enabling Project: [https://data.ddosecrets.com/Snowden%20archive/sigint-enabling-project.pdf](https://data.ddosecrets.com/Snowden%20archive/sigint-enabling-project.pdf)
- IAD: [https://www.iad.gov/](https://www.iad.gov/)
- Ars Technica - “Unauthorized code” in Juniper firewalls decrypts encrypted VPN traffic: [https://web.archive.org/web/20151222023311/http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/12/unauthorized-code-in-juniper-firewalls-decrypts-encrypted-vpn-traffic/](https://web.archive.org/web/20151222023311/http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/12/unauthorized-code-in-juniper-firewalls-decrypts-encrypted-vpn-traffic/)
- 2015 IMPORTANT JUNIPER SECURITY ANNOUNCEMENT: [https://web.archive.org/web/20151221171526/http://forums.juniper.net/t5/Security-Incident-Response/Important-Announcement-about-ScreenOS/ba-p/285554](https://web.archive.org/web/20151221171526/http://forums.juniper.net/t5/Security-Incident-Response/Important-Announcement-about-ScreenOS/ba-p/285554)
- Extended Random Values for TLS: [https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-rescorla-tls-extended-random-00](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-rescorla-tls-extended-random-00)
- The Art of Software Security Assessment: [https://www.amazon.com/Art-Software-Security-Assessment-Vulnerabilities/dp/0321444426](https://www.amazon.com/Art-Software-Security-Assessment-Vulnerabilities/dp/0321444426)

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is hosted by Deirdre Connolly (@durumcrustulum), Thomas Ptacek (@tqbf), and David Adrian (@dadrian)

You may not be rewriting the world in Rust, but if you follow the findings of the Android team and our guest Jeff Vander Stoep, you'll drive down your memory-unsafety vulnerabilities more than 2X below the industry average over time! 🎉

Transcript: https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2024/10/15/a-little-bit-of-rust-goes-a-long-way/

Links:
- https://security.googleblog.com/2024/09/eliminating-memory-safety-vulnerabilities-Android.html
- “Safe Coding”: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3651621
- “effectiveness of security design”: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16LZ6T-tcjgp3T8_N3m0pa5kNA1DwIsuMcQYDhpMU7uU/edit#slide=id.g3e7cac054a_0_89
- https://security.googleblog.com/2024/02/improving-interoperability-between-rust-and-c.html
- https://github.com/google/crubit
- https://github.com/google/autocxx
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagefright_(bug)
- https://security.googleblog.com/2021/04/rust-in-android-platform.html
- https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/docs/security/rule-of-2.md
- https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity22/presentation/alexopoulos
-https://kb.meinbergglobal.com/kb/time_sync/ntp/ntp_vulnerabilities_reported_2023-04
- https://blog.isosceles.com/the-legacy-of-stagefright/
- https://research.google/pubs/secure-by-design-googles-perspective-on-memory-safety/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrrH2lcl9ew
- https://source.android.com/docs/setup/build/rust/building-rust-modules/overview
- https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-bindgen
- https://security.googleblog.com/2021/06/rustc-interop-in-android-platform.html

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is hosted by Deirdre Connolly (@durumcrustulum), Thomas Ptacek (@tqbf), and David Adrian (@dadrian)

With the 2024 United States Presidential Election right around the corner, we talk to an unnamed guest who has worked on cybersecurity for political campaigns in the United States since 2004. We recorded this in late August, 2024.

Transcript: https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2024/10/13/campaign-security/

Links:

- Active Measures by Thomas Rind: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374287269/activemeasures
- Aurora: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation\_Aurora
- Google APP announcement, October 2017: https://www.wired.com/story/google-advanced-protection-locks-down-accounts/
- XXD: https://linux.die.net/man/1/xxd
- Adobe Reader October 2016 Security Update: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb16-33.html

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is hosted by Deirdre Connolly (@durumcrustulum), Thomas Ptacek (@tqbf), and David Adrian (@dadrian)

We finally have an excuse to tear down Telegram! Their CEO got arrested by the French, apparently not because the cryptography in Telegram is bad, but special guest Matt Green joined us to talk about how the cryptography is bad anyway, and you probably shouldn't use Telegram as a secure messenger of any kind!


Transcript: https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2024/09/06/telegram

Links:

- https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2024/08/25/telegram-is-not-really-an-encrypted-messaging-app/
- Lavabit / Ladar Levinson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavabit
- Pavel Durov indictment statement from French authorities: https://www.tribunal-de-paris.justice.fr/sites/default/files/2024-08/2024-08-28%20-%20CP%20TELEGRAM%20mise%20en%20examen.pdf
- MTProto 2.0 protocol spec: https://core.telegram.org/api/end-to-end
- https://words.filippo.io/dispatches/telegram-ecdh/
- MTProto 1.0 (old no longer used): - https://web.archive.org/web/20131220000537/https://core.telegram.org/api/end-to-end#key-generation
- OTR: https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/otr-wpes.pdf
- AES and sha2 used in ‘Infinite Garble Extension’ mode: https://eprint.iacr.org/2015/1177.pdf
- Four Attacks and a Proof for Telegram: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=9833666
- History of Telegram e2ee chats availability: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_(software)#Architecture
- https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2023/01/27/threema/
- https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2022/11/02/Matrix-with-Martin-Albrecht-Dan-Jones/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(protocol), introduced in September 2014

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is hosted by Deirdre Connolly (@durumcrustulum), Thomas Ptacek (@tqbf), and David Adrian (@dadrian)

Are you going to be in Vegas during BlackHat / DEF CON? We're hosting a mixer, sponsored by Observa! We have limited capacity, so please only register if you can actually come. Location details are in the confirmation email. Tickets will be released in batches, so if you get waitlisted, there's a good chance you still get in. Looking forward to seeing you in Vegas!

Ticket Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/scwpod-vegas-2024-tickets-946939099337

We talk about CrowdStrike in this episode, but we know we made some mistakes:

• The sys files may be code in addition to data.
• The bug might be bigger than "just" a null pointer exception.

Luckily, none of that is actually relevant to the main issues we discuss.

Show page: https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2024/07/24/summertime-sadness/

Other Links:

• https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/post-quantum-cryptography/post-quantum-cryptography-standardization
• https://dadrian.io/blog/posts/pqc-signatures-2024/
• https://dadrian.io/blog/posts/cto/
• https://www.blackhat.com/us-24/briefings/schedule/
• https://terrapin-attack.com/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AqayGm0_pw

More like ClownStrike, amirite?

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is hosted by Deirdre Connolly (@durumcrustulum), Thomas Ptacek (@tqbf), and David Adrian (@dadrian)

We have Mark Dowd on, founder of Aziumuth Security and one of the authors of The Art of Software Security Assessment, to talk about the market for zero day vulnerabilities, and how mitigations affect monetizing offensive security work.

Transcript: https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2024/06/24/mdowd/

Links:

• https://www.azimuthsecurity.com/
• https://www.vigilantlabs.com/
• https://github.com/mdowd79/presentations/blob/main/bluehat2023-mdowd-final.pdf
• https://i.blackhat.com/USA21/Wednesday-Handouts/us-21-Hack-Different-Pwning-IOS-14-With-Generation-Z-Bug-wp.pdf
• https://i.blackhat.com/USA-19/Wednesday/us-19-Shwartz-Selling-0-Days-To-Governments-And-Offensive-Security-Companies.pdf

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is hosted by Deirdre Connolly (@durumcrustulum), Thomas Ptacek (@tqbf), and David Adrian (@dadrian)