submitted 10 months ago by tauren@lemm.ee to c/programming@programming.dev

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Hi, !programming@programming.dev. I'm curious about zero-knowledge encryption, and I would like to use it in my CS50x final project. My goal is to authenticate users and store their encrypted data on the server so that only the users can decrypt it.

I understand the general concepts of public and private keys, as well as symmetric keys, and how to use them to protect data. However, I don't understand how to authenticate users. I have searched online for information on implementing the zero proof knowledge authentication flow, but I found either vague high-level descriptions or research papers that require a strong background in mathematics and cryptography to understand and implement.

Could you maybe suggest some resources on this topic? When your search for "how to implement jwt authentication", you can find many articles that describe the flow with code examples. I'm looking for something similar.

Or should I choose a simpler project?

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[-] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 0 points 10 months ago

research papers that require a strong background in mathematics and cryptography to understand and implement.

Lol. I guess that makes sense. Outside of school, we hope that all authentication will be implemented only cryptography experts anyway.

Could you maybe suggest some resources on this topic?

Not really, sorry. I'm not aware of anyone creating resources for your situation.

Or should I choose a simpler project?

For some context, cryptography isn't even usually implemented "completely correctly" by experts. That's part of why we have constant software security patches.

If I were in your shoes, I guess it would depend on my instructor and advisors.

If I felt like they have the skills to catch mistakes and no time to help correct mistakes, then I would just choose a simpler project. If they're cool with awarding a good grade for a functional demo, I might just go for it.

I guess I would take this one to an advisor and get some feedback on practicality.

[-] tauren@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago

For some context, cryptography isn’t even usually implemented “completely correctly” by experts. That’s part of why we have constant software security patches.

Yeah, I totally agree, and I don't expect to implement it properly or go public with this. I just got this idea for the final project. When it comes to password hashing, we have libraries in all popular languages that handle this, and we have open-source tools to generate keys. So, I was hoping to find something ready to use for my project. Unfortunately, it seems this area isn't very popular.

this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025

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