Lab · Cryptography branch · Year 1

Cryptography Lab

Pinter into Sage into Cryptopals into a journalism artifact. Six parallel tracks across 52 weeks, paced by hand and logged in public. Nodes are quests; capstones gate the year.

Total XP
0
of 36,220 planned · 0 hrs logged

XP by track

Philosophy
0 / 5200
Algebra
0 / 6590
Python
0 / 6560
Sage
0 / 6830
Cryptopals
0 / 6580
Artifact
0 / 4460

Atlas

52 weeks · 6 tracks · 284 planned quests · 4 capstones.

Cryptography curriculum atlas — six tracks across 52 weeks A horizontal star map. Six tracks (philosophy, algebra, python, sage, cryptopals, artifact) run as ribbons left to right across the year. Each node is a planned chapter or project. Hover for the title, click to open. Q1: Foundations Q2: Symmetric & Number Theory Q3: Public Key Q4: Curves & Specialization Philosophy Algebra Python Sage Cryptopals Artifact 1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 52
Six tracks across 52 weeks. Each node a planned chapter, project, or capstone. Today highlighted in cream; quarter boundaries dashed.

This week — Week 6

5 quests across 5 tracks.

Philosophy Vol I §6 — City-state Week 6 ~ 2 hrs Planned Algebra Pinter ch 6 — Cyclic groups Week 6 ~ 3 hrs Planned Python Re-architect: seo-content-research, part 1 Week 6 ~ 4 hrs Planned Sage Vigenère cipher in Sage Week 6 ~ 2 hrs Planned Cryptopals Set 1 #1–2 — hex/base64, fixed XOR Week 6 ~ 2 hrs Planned

Achievements

0 / 25

Unlocked badges glow; locked badges show their criteria.

Foundations

First Steps
Mark any chapter complete.
Sage Walker
Run your first Sage cell.
Pyodide Pythoneer
Run Python in the browser for the first time.
Polyglot
Complete at least one chapter in each of the six tracks.
Quantum-Aware
Read all Quantum Threat callouts (RSA, DH, ECC, Shor, Grover).

Mastery

Pinter Apprentice
Complete 5 algebra chapters.
Pinter Adept
Complete 15 algebra chapters.
Pinter Master
Complete the full Pinter sequence.
Cypherpunk
Complete the first Cryptopals set (challenges 1–8).
Hash Slinger
Complete the Merkle-tree archival project.
Library Author
Publish your Python library to PyPI.
Citizen of the Republic
Read your first Öcalan section.
Read the Books
Complete all three volumes of the Manifesto.
Marathonist
Log 100+ hours across all tracks.
Thousander
Earn 1,000 XP.

Streaks

One-Week Flame
Log activity 7 days in a row.
Thirty-Day Flame
Log activity 30 days in a row.
Hundred-Day Flame
Log activity 100 days in a row.
Year of Flame
Log activity 365 days in a row.

Capstones

Q1 — Cipher Hunter
Complete the classical-cryptanalysis tournament.
Q2 — Archivist
Ship the Merkle-tree archival CLI.
Q3 — Side-Channel Aware
Break RSA in three deliberate-vulnerability variants.
Q4 — Hesitator
Ship the journalism artifact into Hesitation Media production.

Hidden

Side-Quester
Complete a chapter outside the planned week order.
Night Owl
Mark a chapter complete between midnight and 4 AM.

Capstones

Quarterly bosses. Each unlocks at an XP threshold and rewards a major milestone badge.

Q1 Capstone — locked

Cipher Hunter

Break a battery of classical ciphers (Caesar, Vigenère, ECB) generated against you. Submit a Sage notebook with each break worked.

Unlock at1,500 XP
Reward+500 XP
Remaining1,500 XP
Q2 Capstone — locked

Archivist

Build a Merkle-tree archival CLI in Python that hashes a real Memory Hole investigation source. Verifiable end-to-end.

Unlock at3,500 XP
Reward+700 XP
Remaining3,500 XP
Q3 Capstone — locked

Side-Channel Aware

Implement RSA in Sage, then break it three different ways. Document each attack as cryptanalysis prose.

Unlock at6,000 XP
Reward+900 XP
Remaining6,000 XP
Q4 Capstone — locked

Hesitator

Ship the journalism artifact. Mathematically defensible component of the Trustless Journalism Protocol, with a written threat model.

Unlock at9,000 XP
Reward+1200 XP
Remaining9,000 XP

Recent build log

The build log starts the first week you ship something. Pick a Sunday evening cadence; honest weekly notes accumulate.

Build log index →
crypto-curriculum repo · Lab index · All build-log entries