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Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange

Art of the Problem · 938.6K views · 2012-07-31 · 8:38

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Overview

A short explainer on the history and mechanics of public key cryptography and the Diffie-Hellman key exchange. It uses a mixing-paint-colors analogy to show how two parties can agree on a shared secret in public.

On Hacker News

It is the go-to beginner explanation of Diffie-Hellman, recommended because the paint analogy makes the idea click without prior cryptography knowledge.

Recommended by 9 HN people across 8 months · HN mentions 2016–2024

Topics

Cryptography
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diffie-hellmankey exchangepaint analogyencryption

What people said

throw1234651234 · 2023-05 · Strong recommendation

This is the only video that ever explained it concisely and clearly, IF you don't care about trying to actually implement it: [VIDEO]

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ndesaulniers · 2020-06 · Strong recommendation

Interesting, thanks for sharing (I too was curious). This is my favorite video on Diffie-Hellman key exchange which is a slightly different problem (sharing a secret, without the constraint of dividing the key): [VIDEO] (oh, hey, same channel! Guess I'll need to check out more videos from here!)

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zappo2938 · 2016-12 · Strong recommendation

For idiots like myself, I found this video, Public key cryptography - Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange (full version), to be completely enlightening using mixed colors to explain the most basic features of a cryptography algorithm.[0] [0] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Art of the Problem, played through YouTube.

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