Global Posts

Hey, all! Welcome to CryptoCL.

I showed Dr. Marmorstein my cryptographic hash. It seems that the permutation step was not actually permutation, but a complicated substitution step. I have since written a simple permutation step.

When I ran the program with user input, the program would spit out undecipherable garbage. However, I was told this is a good thing, so I will keep it.

I have since begun to write a program to calculate the confusion. However, given how I’m writing it, it would seem I would need to do a complete overhaul of my program in order to do this. I am not looking forward to this, and it feels like a lot and I’m not sure where to go with it.

I will keep trying, but if I can’t make a successful breakthrough by the weekend, I am most likely just try and implement the program using the OpenCL standard, so that I have at least a working OpenCL program.

Kyle Jenkins.

Time spent today: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 36 hours

This is a blog for my 4th graders to publish their written work and to interact with each other on a public forum.

Hey, all! Welcome to CryptoCL.

The cryptographic hash algorithm is complete. It’s not the best or most secure, but the input is being successfully encrypted.

I changed my permutation algorithm to check the substituted number. If the number is between 64 and 91 (A-Z in ASCII), then the value of the unsigned int pointer n at i will be changed to the BLAKE2s SIGMA value at row i mod 10, and column of the value of the unsigned int pointer o mod 16 + 64. This plus 64 will help the new value of n at i to be at least A. Otherwise, it’s the same value of BLAKE2s SIGMA, but with an addition 96.

The program now splits the message into 16 byte blocks, substitutes each individual byte, permutes each byte, and substitutes again, and repeats until finally printing out the result.

One issue that arises of the algorithm security-wise is that, when the remaining bytes are zeroed out, and whenever you run the program with zeroed out bytes, you will easily be able to see which bytes are zeroes. There’s a specific pattern that appears regardless of the message at the end of the last 16 byte block with zeroes.

However, I am quite proud of my algorithm. Although it’s not the best, the letters are changed depending on their location, which means it will be difficult to crack in a marginally short amount of time, at least by hand.

Tomorrow, I am speaking with Dr. Marmorstein to discuss incorporating OpenCL into the algorithm. I feel pretty good about this!

Until next time!

Kyle Jenkins

Time spent today: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 33 hours 30 minutes

Hey, all! Welcome to CryptoCL.

Progress on the new Cryptographic hash is slow going. I am working to try and implement the non-OpenCL implementation by Monday.

Right now, I have the substitution and permutation functions defined. The substitution function is a simple one, where you return the given unsigned char + 1 and modulate by 256.

The permutation function, however, is causing the most problems. I want to implement the BLAKE2s SIGMA variable if possible. The B2s SIGMA is a large 10×16 uint8_t variable, mapping numbers of 0 to 15 to each of the 10 rows:

static const uint8_t blake2s_sigma[10][16] =
{
{ 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 } ,
{ 14, 10, 4, 8, 9, 15, 13, 6, 1, 12, 0, 2, 11, 7, 5, 3 } ,
{ 11, 8, 12, 0, 5, 2, 15, 13, 10, 14, 3, 6, 7, 1, 9, 4 } ,
{ 7, 9, 3, 1, 13, 12, 11, 14, 2, 6, 5, 10, 4, 0, 15, 8 } ,
{ 9, 0, 5, 7, 2, 4, 10, 15, 14, 1, 11, 12, 6, 8, 3, 13 } ,
{ 2, 12, 6, 10, 0, 11, 8, 3, 4, 13, 7, 5, 15, 14, 1, 9 } ,
{ 12, 5, 1, 15, 14, 13, 4, 10, 0, 7, 6, 3, 9, 2, 8, 11 } ,
{ 13, 11, 7, 14, 12, 1, 3, 9, 5, 0, 15, 4, 8, 6, 2, 10 } ,
{ 6, 15, 14, 9, 11, 3, 0, 8, 12, 2, 13, 7, 1, 4, 10, 5 } ,
{ 10, 2, 8, 4, 7, 6, 1, 5, 15, 11, 9, 14, 3, 12, 13 , 0 } ,
};

However, it seems to be causing some problems — more specifically, it seems that attempts to substitute after the permutation (a test to see if the code is currently working) only spit out garbage.

I will continue to work on improving the algorithm. The hope is to have it in working order by Monday, then, OpenCL implementation is the next step. Thank you!

Kyle Jenkins.

Time spent today: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time: 32 hours

What is our civic responsibility as educators after the presidential election on Nov. 3^rd? This is a difficult question to consider at a time when tensions are high, certainty is low, and our energy is waning.

How will we integrate this moment into our courses or class discussions? Should we? What if we didn’t? What if we did? Here at CAFE, we know that faculty across campus and across the country are asking

these same questions.  So, our staff decided to pull together resources that might be helpful as we prepare for November 4th.

As you know, this election feels different than previous cycles. Consideration of how election outcomes could affect our community are reflected well in the article, Preparing to Teach about the 2020 Election (and After):

The high stakes of the 2020 Election are deeply felt by members of our campus community and the results of this election will produce disparate impacts for students and instructors alike. When preparing to discuss the election and its results, it is important for you to consider what is ‘at stake’ for the members of the classroom community.

That statement reminds us that we cannot assume similarity of thought or impact among students, faculty, and staff post-election. You might want to check out the entire article for more information on

how classroom discussions might affect students differently. Fortunately, there are many resources that can help us teach effectively in the context of a high-stakes election.

Three resources that we found useful offer suggestions on how to discuss the value of voting Talking About Elections in Your Classroom, how to effectively Facilitate Controversial Discussions regarding the election, and

how to consider the potentially strong emotional responses that students may have after the election Teaching in Response to the Election. Some of us might be thinking that politics won’t come up in our classrooms.

While that may be true, you might find this article on how to navigate spontaneous discussions in your classroom that might otherwise catch us off guard: Guidelines for Discussing Difficult or High-Stakes Topics.

Regardless of your discipline or course topic, it is appropriate to acknowledge the moment if you wish, even if it is divergent from your planned discussions. Stanford University encourages you to ACT:

Anticipate the need to support students, Create space for students to process their reactions, and Tie current events into course learning. By doing so, we can foster meaningful discussions that help develop our citizen leaders.

Thank you for your good work in the classroom. Please contact us at CAFE if you have any questions or would like to discuss approaches to teaching after the election in more detail.

Hey, all! Welcome to CryptoCL — and I hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Today, I began implementing our own Cryptographic Hash. The goal it take a given message, split it into 16 bytes (and adding filler to the remainder bytes to make it size 16), and split it further into 1 byte blocks. We then take the 1 byte blocks and perform a substitution and permutation equation onto it. Next, we combine the 1-byte block with the next 1-byte block, so we have all 2-byte blocks, and perform another substitution along with transposition function. We continue this by combining into 4, 8, and then back to 16. Once we’re back to 16-byte blocks, we’ll XOR this block with the next block, and repeat until we reach the end of the message.

At the moment, I have a simple implementation of the basic algorithm. There is no substitution, permutation, or transposition algorithms yet — that will come later. There is also no OpenCL code yet, as I wanted to get the basic algorithm finished before I started using the OpenCL standard.

Next time, I have a meeting with Dr. Marmorstein, and we will most likely discuss how to improve the code and how to make the functions unique.

Until next time!

Kyle Jenkins

Time spent today: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 hours 45 minutes

Pumpkin carving has come a long way in the last few decades, and nowhere was that more apparent than in the pumpkin-carving contest held Thursday.

There was hardly a triangle-shaped eye or nose to be found among the entries—but there were a lavender wig, handmade paper sunflowers and some incredibly intricate designs. Contestants ranged from first-time carvers to practiced artisans with years of jack-o’-lantern experience, and each of them had a story to tell.

Inspired by his love of Japanese culture, Rayshad Lindsay ’22 carved Japanese maple leaves onto his pumpkin.

Inspired by his love of Japanese culture, Rayshad Lindsay ’22 carved Japanese maple leaves onto his pumpkin. A physics major who took three years of Japanese in high school, he embellished his pumpkin with carvings of Japanese maple leaves, along with a crescent moon inlaid with diamond shapes—pretty ambitious for his first carving attempt.

Hannah Swain ’22 (left) incorporated items her mom gave her, including a lavender wig and a giant cat’s eye, into her entry. Jordan Matthews ’22 was inspired by her favorite Japanese animation studio.

Continuing the Japanese theme, Jordan Matthews ’22 drew inspiration from Studio Ghibli, a Disney-like Japanese animation film studio that Matthews describes as “very whimsical, fun and magical.” An art education major, she covered her pumpkin with drawings of Ghibli characters.

Kira Pierce ’22, a veteran pumpkin artist, spent eight hours carving the Rotunda facade and the Colonnades into her entry.

When Kira Pierce ’22 dropped off her entry, it was immediately apparent that she took the contest very seriously—just as she does the annual Halloween pumpkin-carving competition between her and her dad, Longwood alum Gary Pierce ’91. Kira, a math major, spent eight hours carving intricate replicas of the Rotunda façade and the Colonnades—two of her favorite campus spots—onto her entry. Her previous pumpkin work includes detailed portraits of Jesus and of the University of Tennessee’s bluetick coonhound mascot Smokey. Why Smokey? Because Kira hopes to do her graduate work in engineering at UT.

Davice Jones ’23, a biology major, proved that pumpkin-carving inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of places. A Student Government Association (SGA) senator, she met with Dining Director Mitch Rodhe Tuesday to give him feedback she’d gathered about the food at Longwood. “He made me laugh,” she said, adding she decided then and there to create her pumpkin in his honor. Lit from within by twinkly lights, her “Mitch” pumpkin is gobbling a “cheeseburger” (represented by a smaller pumpkin) from FarmGrill, one of the restaurants in  the Upchurch University Center’s food court.

Davice Jones ’23 found the inspiration for her pumpkin in an unlikely place: a meeting with Longwood’s dining director.

Prizes were awarded for the best entry in several categories, including Longwood-themed (winner: Pierce), best painted (winner: Hannah Swain ’22) and best classic jack-o’-lantern (winner: Jones).

Also Thursday, the pouring rain stopped and the sun came out just in time for students to trick or treat across campus during the afternoon. Costumes were encouraged for those making the rounds of more than 20 offices that had signed up to welcome students for Halloween.

I think it’s nice that you don’t have to be a kid to celebrate Halloween at Longwood—just a little bit of a kid at heart.

—Sabrina Brown

One of the great things about being a student at Longwood—and then being a Longwood graduate—is the strong connection our alums feel with these young people and the support they provide to them.

One example of this is the Work Shadow Program run by our Office of Alumni and Career Services.

The program gives current students the opportunity to spend a day with an alum working in a career field in which they have an interest. So far, more 55 alums, many of them from high-profile businesses and organizations, have volunteered to host a student for shadowing this year.

The deadline to sign up for this year’s winter break program is the end of October. If you think your student might be interested, now is the time for them to apply here: http://www.longwood.edu/career/work-shadow-program/ . The program will be held virtually this year due to the pandemic.

“Alumni really enjoy connecting with students and making a difference in their professional futures,” said Teresa Dodson, assistant director of employer engagement and internship services. “The goal is to give our students a taste of what the professional environment is like as well as to provide networking opportunities for our future alumni.

“We will do our best to find an alum in the student’s area of interest,” she added.

Ryan Young ’00 (left), an attorney in private practice in Glen Allen, hosted two students for Longwood’s Work Shadow Program in December 2019.

Below are some of the alums who have signed up to participate this year. Spending a day with professionals in these types of influential positions could be a life-changing experience for your student.

Editor and junior video editor
National Geographic Studios

Head of technology in corporate and commercial banking
Ernst & Young

Director of talent development
Virginia Tech

Associate compliance tester
Capital One

Senior human resources manager
Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond

International program manager
The Boeing Company

Open source intelligence specialist and analytic training coordinator
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence

—Sabrina Brown

Hey, all! Welcome to CryptoCL.

Today was a short day of research — I delved deeper into researching the Data Encryption Standard (DES) and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cryptographic algorithms. Most of my time went into the AES algorithm, however.

I looked up the FIPS publications for both DES and AES, and also looked into a tutorial of the AES algorithm, to give me a general idea of how the algorithm works. It also helps that I was able to refer to my notes from when I took a Cryptography class.

AES utilizes four main functions:

1. Byte Substitution — Substitute the input (present as a byte) , 16 input bytes at a time.
2. Shift Rows — Shifting the rows of the 16 substituted byte input to the left.
3. Mix Columns — Takes each column of the 16 byte substituted and shifted input, and transforms them based off a given function.
4. Add Round Key — Take the 16 substituted, shifted, and mixed input bytes, translated them to 128 bits, and XOR them by the 128 bit round key.

Normally, this operation could take a very long time to process, especially with larger messages or data. That being said, I believe that OpenCL could easily split up the four functions for each 16 byte input into independent operations to be done by the GPU. As discovered when first attempting to implement OpenCL, the standard cannot be utilized effectively when the input is being overwritten in the kernel and then used elsewhere within the same function. However, functions 1, 2, and 4 do not utilize overwritten other parts of the input when calculating the output in each function, so this should allow OpenCL to optimize the calculation.

Tomorrow, I will look over my projects I had written when taking the Cryptography class, and get a better look at how AES operates.

Until next time!

Kyle Jenkins

Time spent today: 1 hour
Total Time: 29 hours 30 minutes