Infosec must “reclaim” the word crypto from people who trade in Bitcoins and other digital currencies, according to industry veteran Bruce Schneier – and it seems some Reg readers agree.
“I have long been annoyed that the word ‘crypto’ has been co-opted by the blockchain people, and no longer refers to ‘cryptography’,” blogged Schneier in a classically brief post on Monday.
He linked to a Guardian featurette about the use of the prefix crypto, which is now mostly synonymous in the public mind with sharp-suited hucksters pumping improbable get-quick-rich scams based on cartoon memes.
‘Crypto’ for decades has been used as shorthand and as a prefix for things related to cryptography, Amie Stepanovich, executive director of Silicon Flatirons Center at the University of Colorado Law School, insisted to the Grauniad. She is credited as the creator of a series of twee T-shirts emblazoned Crypto: It means ‘cryptography’.