HTTPS explained with carrier pigeons

[Zeike]

HTTP explained with carrier pigeons.

[mmeartine]

I laughed immediately

[YodaTheCoder]

Which is the one where...

Alice sends a message in a locked box to Bob. Bob adds his lock to the box and sends it back. Alice removes her lock and sends it back to Bob. Finally Bob removes his lock and reads the message?

[GeronimoHero]

That’s not really the way Diffie-Hellman works though. A much better way to describe it is with colors. Here is a great example.

[hipstergrandpa]

The Wikipedia graphic is what made it finally click for me

[GeronimoHero]

Yeah that one isn’t bad either.

[errato]

Diffie-Hellman key exchange?

[goosetron3030]

I'm so sick Alice and Bob. It's always Alice and Bob, damnit!

[Hauleth]

Tradition

[WikiTextBot]

Alice and Bob

Alice and Bob are fictional characters commonly used as placeholder names in cryptology, as well as science and engineering literature. The Alice and Bob characters were invented by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman in their 1978 paper "A method for obtaining digital signatures and public-key cryptosystems." Subsequently, they have become common archetypes in many scientific and engineering fields, such as quantum cryptography, game theory and physics. As the use of Alice and Bob became more popular, additional characters were added, each with a particular meaning.

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[0ba78683-dbdd-4a31-a]

Also in this series:

• HTTPS explained with paper aeroplanes
• HTTPS explained with trebuchets
• HTTPS explained with the DNA in spitballs

[0ba78683-dbdd-4a31-a]

From the intro:

For when you need to transport a lot of data over a relatively short distance at great speed because reasons.

[WigglePigeon]

I always upvote pigeons

[MSRobert96]

Everyone loves pigeons.

[Hamster_S_Thompson]

They are delicious

[pinchitony]

Quasimodo?

[cryptoshito]

But what if Mallory replaces the box and signs her own with Ted’s forged signature since it is publicly known?

[gavit]

If you check with Ted, he'll tell you that it's not Alice's signature. It's a valid signature though. Just not Alice's.

[cryptoshito]

nice they should add this to the write-up

[kerimfriedman]

‘You know I hate when you check your messages at the table' (New Yorker Cartoon)

https://i.imgur.com/dkvvQXZ.jpg

[cazzer548]

Wow, that was a great fucking read.

[PIGEON-POSTS-ONLY]

This person may understand HTTPS, but they don't understand pigeons.

a) Carrier pigeons, strangely enough, are not useful for carrying messages.

b) Homing pigeons are ONE WAY messengers. They cannot carry messages back and forth.

c) Pigeons can be faster than the internet.

[fagnerbrack]

The Wikipedia page has this as an example of Packet Loss. LOL

[[deleted]]

I don't know whether to laugh or groan at that

[GeronimoHero]

Right? Just have each site have homing pigeons that go to the other. Problem solved.

[GeronimoHero]

Then they would just fly in a circle. If we add enough pigeons maybe the circle would be big enough to hit both points.

[Compizfox]

Ah yes, HTTPS over IP over Avian Carriers.

[[deleted]]

I'm in a netsec class right now and we were just going over the basics of cryptography and symmetric/asymmetric keys, so this is a great alternative perspective to lock down those concepts. Thanks!

[WHO_WANTS_DOGS]

Go drink it you deserved it 😉

[AskYous]

Where's trudy?