Pragyan Blog

>> Chaos Communication Congress

Posted by : Arvind Jayashankar // December 31st, 2008 // No Comments »

To all you cyber techies out there! You think you’re good at hacking? Then take a look at this: hackers have completely broken SSL using 200 PS3s. A team of security researchers and academics has broken a core piece of internet technology. They made their work public at the 25th Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin today. The team was able to create a rogue certificate authority and use it to issue valid SSL certificates for any site they want. The user would have no indication that their HTTPS connection was being monitored/modified.

Ever heard of Digital Fortress? It’s a great place to put your hacking skills to the test right here at Pragyan ‘09! Click here for more details.

And, for those who want more details, read on below..
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>> Safe eh?

Posted by : Arvind Jayashankar // December 22nd, 2008 // No Comments »

I’m sure many of us would’ve had experience with Lego blocks either as a kid or even recently. I’ve had tons of great times playing with these wonderful toys. What was interesting is that they evolved and grew with me. As we grow up, so does technology! It started with standard blocks and now involves complex robotics! Side by side, Lego builders grow more and more innovative. Just when you probably figured you’d seen them all, something amazing comes up. An example of the Lego Mindstorms set in action below. This is a working safe which has a five number combination lock (over 305 billion different codes) and even a motion senser which triggers an alarm when moved! Phew, now that’s neat. Do you have what it takes to crack the Digital Fortress at Pragyan? (Check out the links, there’s some neat stuff you can look forward to this time in Pragyan!)