Re:DecryptoCat
by kragen on Thursday July 04, 2013 @11:43AM
(#5991131)
I also think that to be a good builder, you have to be a good breaker — which is most especially the case with crypto. Of course, you already know this, thus your competition, but you didn't bother to say it.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
To be a good crypto-builder, I think you need to be a good breaker. I don't think that holds for other kinds of building.
I meant for software in general; I guess you don't agree? My reasoning is that you have to think systematically about what can go wrong in order to be a good programmer, which is a skill that you can only acquire by finding bugs in programs.
No, I don't agree. I think in many cases it's possible to code defensively without having what my partner Dave calls "killer instinct", the X-factor for being good at finding vulnerabilities in systems. Also, good breakers have to deal with arbitrary technologies; a good developer can specialize, substituting experience and depth of knowledge for intuitive feel.