The Mathematics of Secrets
@mathofsecrets.bsky.social
Hi, I'm Josh Holden. I teach math, write books, and encrypt secret messages.
Pinned
The Mathematics of Secrets
https://wordpress.rose-hulman.edu/holden/the-mathematics-of-secrets/
mathofsecrets.com
Doing some profile editing --- this should really be a pinned post, not my bio!
In his book The Mathematics of Secrets, Joshua Holden takes readers on a tour of the mathematics behind cryptography—the science of sending secret messages.
mathofsecrets.com
In his book The Mathematics of Secrets, Joshua Holden takes readers on a tour of the mathematics behind cryptography—the science of sending secret messages.
mathofsecrets.com
Today I was looking at an article on Multi-Party Threshold #Cryptography and wondered why "threshold" has only one h. Turns out the etymology is not "thresh-hold" at all, but "thresh-wold", possibly from the Middle English word "wold" meaning "forest". Mind blown.
February 7, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Today I was looking at an article on Multi-Party Threshold #Cryptography and wondered why "threshold" has only one h. Turns out the etymology is not "thresh-hold" at all, but "thresh-wold", possibly from the Middle English word "wold" meaning "forest". Mind blown.
For my next book, I’m reading some mid-20th century papers on color vision. These guys will go on for pages about the kind of filters they use, and then their discussion of the test subjects will be “we took the measurements on Mr. Perley G. Nutting, Jr., who sat still for a really long time.”
January 4, 2026 at 5:38 AM
For my next book, I’m reading some mid-20th century papers on color vision. These guys will go on for pages about the kind of filters they use, and then their discussion of the test subjects will be “we took the measurements on Mr. Perley G. Nutting, Jr., who sat still for a really long time.”
Reposted by The Mathematics of Secrets
At 26, during the Reign of Terror in France, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier narrowly avoided the guillotine. A decade later, he made a discovery that changed mathematics forever.
www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-...
www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-...
December 10, 2025 at 9:04 PM
At 26, during the Reign of Terror in France, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier narrowly avoided the guillotine. A decade later, he made a discovery that changed mathematics forever.
www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-...
www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-...
Reposted by The Mathematics of Secrets
This diagram should win some kind of prize for mathematical illustration. From arxiv.org/abs/2305.08471. 🧮
![Figure 6. The quotientope lattice for n = 4: all quotientopes ordered by inclusion (which corresponds to refinement of the lattice congruences). We only consider lattice congruences whose fan
is essential. We have highlighted the cube (green), Loday’s associahedron [Lod04] (blue), another
one of Hohlweg–Lange’s associahedra [HL07] (purple), the diagonal rectangulation polytope [LR12]
(orange), and the permutahedron (red). Adapted from [PS19, Fig. 9].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ysaiuavm2f7d4th42c4valhw/bafkreihhvpykoeyxb23bilkfhitiivpaitjc5ueb22r3lqu4y57gt7calm@jpeg)
December 5, 2025 at 10:27 PM
This diagram should win some kind of prize for mathematical illustration. From arxiv.org/abs/2305.08471. 🧮
Looks like the Kryptos kerfuffle didn't hurt the auction much! #cryptography www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot...
The Complete Secrets of Kryptos: Jim Sanborn's Private Archive | RR
Sold for $962,500 |
Jim Sanborn's original Kryptos archive that reveals the secrets of K4 and the much anticipated K5, plus an afternoon with Sanborn as he p
www.rrauction.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Looks like the Kryptos kerfuffle didn't hurt the auction much! #cryptography www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot...
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So, the IACR held an election, but one of the three trustees lost their private key, which prevented them from verifying the results of the election. Forcing them to start over.
The cryptography association was foiled by key management.
hachyderm.io/@leak/110784...
The cryptography association was foiled by key management.
hachyderm.io/@leak/110784...
LeaKissner (@leak@hachyderm.io)
Cryptography is a tool for turning a whole swathe of problems into key management problems. Key management problems are way harder than (virtually all) cryptographers think.
hachyderm.io
November 20, 2025 at 10:35 PM
So, the IACR held an election, but one of the three trustees lost their private key, which prevented them from verifying the results of the election. Forcing them to start over.
The cryptography association was foiled by key management.
hachyderm.io/@leak/110784...
The cryptography association was foiled by key management.
hachyderm.io/@leak/110784...
Reposted by The Mathematics of Secrets
This IACR election news is so relatable
November 21, 2025 at 8:51 AM
This IACR election news is so relatable
Reposted by The Mathematics of Secrets
Did you know?
Keccak is everywhere, quietly protecting real systems, such as:
• Connected devices checking data integrity
• Firmware updates verifying authenticity
• Embedded products securing messages
• PQC standards like ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA
⬇
Keccak is everywhere, quietly protecting real systems, such as:
• Connected devices checking data integrity
• Firmware updates verifying authenticity
• Embedded products securing messages
• PQC standards like ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA
⬇
November 21, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Did you know?
Keccak is everywhere, quietly protecting real systems, such as:
• Connected devices checking data integrity
• Firmware updates verifying authenticity
• Embedded products securing messages
• PQC standards like ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA
⬇
Keccak is everywhere, quietly protecting real systems, such as:
• Connected devices checking data integrity
• Firmware updates verifying authenticity
• Embedded products securing messages
• PQC standards like ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA
⬇
Reposted by The Mathematics of Secrets
“Key Management” is the cryptographic community’s version of “…it’s always DNS”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/126061
#cryptography #iacr
https://alecmuffett.com/article/126061
#cryptography #iacr
“Key Management” is the cryptographic community’s version of “…it’s always DNS”
International Association for Cryptologic Research runs secure vote and then loses the keys so nobody knows what the result is. As one commenter put it: “So a single member can collude to res…
alecmuffett.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:05 PM
“Key Management” is the cryptographic community’s version of “…it’s always DNS”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/126061
#cryptography #iacr
https://alecmuffett.com/article/126061
#cryptography #iacr
Reposted by The Mathematics of Secrets
Post-Quantum Cryptography in .NET - .NET Blog
What we've added for PQC, and how we got there.
ift.tt
November 19, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by The Mathematics of Secrets
This December, the Faculty of Engineering at #USyd is delighted to welcome Dr Moti Yung, who will speak at the Basser seminar series in our School. He will tell us about "Malicious Cryptography: beyond adhering to specifications in secure systems"
🕒 Tuesday, Dec 2
3:30—4:30pm
🕒 Tuesday, Dec 2
3:30—4:30pm
November 19, 2025 at 9:26 PM
This December, the Faculty of Engineering at #USyd is delighted to welcome Dr Moti Yung, who will speak at the Basser seminar series in our School. He will tell us about "Malicious Cryptography: beyond adhering to specifications in secure systems"
🕒 Tuesday, Dec 2
3:30—4:30pm
🕒 Tuesday, Dec 2
3:30—4:30pm
Hot take: I hate to say it, but this is silly. Mathematicians have known for at least a century that you can replace imaginary numbers with 2x2 matrices of real numbers. Would the result be useful? Sounds like the answer is no. #quantumcomputing www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-t...
Physicists Take the Imaginary Numbers Out of Quantum Mechanics | Quanta Magazine
Quantum mechanics has at last been formulated exclusively with real numbers, bringing a mathematical puzzle at the heart of the theory into a new era of inquiry.
www.quantamagazine.org
November 8, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Hot take: I hate to say it, but this is silly. Mathematicians have known for at least a century that you can replace imaginary numbers with 2x2 matrices of real numbers. Would the result be useful? Sounds like the answer is no. #quantumcomputing www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-t...
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Well, that's a #cryptography oops. web.archive.org/web/20251016...
Solution to CIA’s Kryptos Sculpture Is Found in Smithsonian Vault
Jim Sanborn planned to auction off the solution to Kryptos, the puzzle he sculpted for the intelligence agency’s headquarters. Two fans of the work then discovered the solution.
web.archive.org
October 26, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Well, that's a #cryptography oops. web.archive.org/web/20251016...
Doing some profile editing --- this should really be a pinned post, not my bio!
In his book The Mathematics of Secrets, Joshua Holden takes readers on a tour of the mathematics behind cryptography—the science of sending secret messages.
mathofsecrets.com
In his book The Mathematics of Secrets, Joshua Holden takes readers on a tour of the mathematics behind cryptography—the science of sending secret messages.
mathofsecrets.com
The Mathematics of Secrets
https://wordpress.rose-hulman.edu/holden/the-mathematics-of-secrets/
mathofsecrets.com
October 11, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Doing some profile editing --- this should really be a pinned post, not my bio!
In his book The Mathematics of Secrets, Joshua Holden takes readers on a tour of the mathematics behind cryptography—the science of sending secret messages.
mathofsecrets.com
In his book The Mathematics of Secrets, Joshua Holden takes readers on a tour of the mathematics behind cryptography—the science of sending secret messages.
mathofsecrets.com
Found this in my old tabs. Kind of a scary idea! #Cryptography can't do much about attacks like this. @schneier.com www.schneier.com/blog/archive...
Eavesdropping on Phone Conversations Through Vibrations - Schneier on Security
Researchers have managed to eavesdrop on cell phone voice conversations by using radar to detect vibrations. It’s more a proof of concept than anything else. The radar detector is only ten feet away, ...
www.schneier.com
October 11, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Found this in my old tabs. Kind of a scary idea! #Cryptography can't do much about attacks like this. @schneier.com www.schneier.com/blog/archive...
Reposted by The Mathematics of Secrets
An incredible proof from “When Least is Best” by Paul Nahin
March 12, 2025 at 9:47 PM
An incredible proof from “When Least is Best” by Paul Nahin
Reposted by The Mathematics of Secrets
How a modern radio works, told through mathematics, history, and selected puzzles.
Paul J. Nahin's The Mathematical Radio is now available in #paperback. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
#Math #Mathematics #History
Paul J. Nahin's The Mathematical Radio is now available in #paperback. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
#Math #Mathematics #History
September 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
How a modern radio works, told through mathematics, history, and selected puzzles.
Paul J. Nahin's The Mathematical Radio is now available in #paperback. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
#Math #Mathematics #History
Paul J. Nahin's The Mathematical Radio is now available in #paperback. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
#Math #Mathematics #History
Slight clickbaiting here --- #quantumcomputing with 300 *logical* qubits can do amazing things, but this machine only has 3000 *physical* qubits. Still potentially a big step forward! @apsphysics.bsky.social
phys.org/news/2025-09...
phys.org/news/2025-09...
Phys.org - News and Articles on Science and Technology
Daily science news on research developments, technological breakthroughs and the latest scientific innovations
Phys.org
October 5, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Slight clickbaiting here --- #quantumcomputing with 300 *logical* qubits can do amazing things, but this machine only has 3000 *physical* qubits. Still potentially a big step forward! @apsphysics.bsky.social
phys.org/news/2025-09...
phys.org/news/2025-09...
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At a time when abortion rights are under attack, platforms with enormous resources—like Meta—have no excuse for silencing this important speech. We must push platforms to #StopCensoringAbortion. www.eff.org/pages/platf...
Platforms Have Failed Us on Abortion Content. Here's How They Can Fix
BY MOLLY BUCKLEY | October 1, 2025This is the eighth installment in a blog series documenting EFF's findings from the Stop Censoring Abortion campaign. You can read additional posts here. In our Stop
www.eff.org
October 5, 2025 at 6:00 PM
At a time when abortion rights are under attack, platforms with enormous resources—like Meta—have no excuse for silencing this important speech. We must push platforms to #StopCensoringAbortion. www.eff.org/pages/platf...
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The Xiaofeng Wang search warrant has been unsealed, thanks to @riana.bsky.social. infosec.exchange/@hovav/11531...
Hovav Shacham (@hovav@infosec.exchange)
After a mere six months, progress on @riana@someone.elses.computer’s motion seeking to unseal the XiaoFeng Wang search warrant!! https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69834044/21/in-re-motion-to-unseal...
infosec.exchange
October 4, 2025 at 12:00 AM
The Xiaofeng Wang search warrant has been unsealed, thanks to @riana.bsky.social. infosec.exchange/@hovav/11531...
Reposted by The Mathematics of Secrets
October 3, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Oh, right, I said I'd post some good news. This article appears to have nothing to do with #cryptography, but down towards the bottom they talk about "clock arithmetic" --- that's the "wraparound" I introduce on page 3 of my book! @quantamagazine.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/new-math-rev...
New Math Revives Geometry’s Oldest Problems | Quanta Magazine
Using a relatively young theory, a team of mathematicians has started to answer questions whose roots lie at the very beginning of mathematics.
www.quantamagazine.org
September 27, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Oh, right, I said I'd post some good news. This article appears to have nothing to do with #cryptography, but down towards the bottom they talk about "clock arithmetic" --- that's the "wraparound" I introduce on page 3 of my book! @quantamagazine.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/new-math-rev...
Come on Microsoft #cryptography, get with the 21st century! @matthewdgreen.bsky.social blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2025/09/10/k...
Kerberoasting
I learn about cryptographic vulnerabilities all the time, and they generally fill me with some combination of jealousy (“oh, why didn’t I think of that”) or else they impress me w…
blog.cryptographyengineering.com
September 27, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Come on Microsoft #cryptography, get with the 21st century! @matthewdgreen.bsky.social blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2025/09/10/k...
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I’m flagging this nice book/paper on FHE schemes not necessarily because it’s correct and I endorse it, but because it looks pretty useful. arxiv.org/pdf/2503.05136
arxiv.org
September 22, 2025 at 7:21 PM
I’m flagging this nice book/paper on FHE schemes not necessarily because it’s correct and I endorse it, but because it looks pretty useful. arxiv.org/pdf/2503.05136