Information Security News: Math students tackle cryptography

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-cryptomath-city-zonejul22,0,1591681.story

By Angie Leventis Lourgos 
Special to the Tribune
July 22, 2009 

Julius Caesar is said to have encrypted battle plans in an alphabetical 
code, protecting the life-or-death messages from spies.

That wouldn't work today. Middle school students can easily crack the 
Caesar Cipher, which is part of an innovative lesson in mathematics, 
critical thinking and problem solving.

A team of University of Illinois at Chicago professors has crafted a 
math curriculum based on cryptography, the science of making and 
breaking codes.

They were recently awarded a five-year, $2.5 million National Science 
Foundation grant to turn the lessons into an after-school program to be 
used across the nation.

[...]


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