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Welcome to the Uppsala University CryptoParty!

We offer a learning space for all to introduce ourselves to the basic tools for self-protection in the digital space. Topics include anonymous browsing, encrypted communication, disk encryption, and general security advice regarding computers and smartphones.

We hold monthly meetings at the Uppsala University Ångström Library. Our events are open to everyone. If you need help entering the premises please contact the organizers.

We follow the guidelines of CryptoParties, but depending on interest also deviate into other security related topics, e.g. CTFs. Some of our participants have a background in IT, but this is not a requirement. Our main goal is to create a self-organized learning space where participants can share knowledge about digital privacy, anonymity and security for all levels of prior knowledge. If there is something you do not understand feel free to interrupt and ask us. There are no stupid questions, we are happy to explain!

Note that we do not recommend any proprietary software, but we also want to support people that can not freely choose the software they use, for example on their work computers, so we might refer to non-free tools.

You can subscribe to our mailing list[1] to receive news about our events. We also have a chat on libera.chat named #cryptoparty-uppsala. Read up on how to connect to libera.chat using an IRC client.

Upcoming

Previous CryptoParties

  1. CryptoParty on 5/5/23 from 17:00–19:00 at Carolina Rediviva discussing the Nothing to Hide-argument. The argument is often heard in debates on privacy and surveillance. We watch the 2017 documentary "Nothing to Hide" followed by a discussion.
  2. Online Cryptoparty on Friday, 26/11/2021 at 17:00 on Differential privacy — when, why and how? by Boel Nelson (Slides)
    Differential privacy is emerging as the gold standard for privacy. Still, in real settings, the adoption of differential privacy by practitioners is limited. In this talk, we will look into real use cases and explore what challenges appear when setting out to deploy differentially private algorithms. When should differential privacy be used? What does it protect against? And how can we achieve differential privacy?
  3. Online CryptoParty on Friday, 29/10/2021 from 17:00—19:00 on Offline Privacy in Sweden

    “Ingen reklam, tack” is often placed on letterboxes, and one example on how to avoid some undesired snail mail in your inbox. We discussed further ways of increasing your privacy offline, for instance regarding one's telephone number and home address. Bear in mind, that adding oneself to one of these registers might not actually increase your privacy.
    Notes from the party.

  4. Online CryptoParty on Friday, 23/10/20 from 17:00–19:00 about:

    Privacy vs Profiling: a relevancy overview of search engines Slides
    Nowadays search engines (web and not) have a quite clear business case: they are either totally into privacy or not. Such case often boils down to better results vs privacy. But what does this mean from a relevancy perspective? Can privacy play a role in the search engine market? What about the often mentioned concepts "pure web" and "democratic search"?

  5. Online CryptoParty on 24/4/20, 17:00–19:00 on How to set up a Jitsi server (given by Heurekus)
    Over the past weeks, many people have been looking for private and secure video conferencing solutions. Jitsi is an open source video calling system that fits the bill and there is now a long and growing list of servers that have been put in place by volunteers to help others communicate securely and privately. Setting up a Jitsi instance for private or public use is quite straightforward with a few basic command line skills and a bit of background knowledge. Topics included:
    • What kind of server do I need,
    • what does it cost per month,
    • how to set up a Jitsi server instance at home or in a virtual machine datacenter, and
    • how to get a domain name and how to map it to the IP address of the Jitsi server.
  6. CryptoParty on 20/1/20 (Lösenordsbytardagen) at Carolina Rediviva focusing on more secure passwords. Lösenordsbytardagen is a day to reflect on the security of our passwords and user accounts, and a day to remind us to secure some of our accounts.
  7. CryptoParty/Linux Install Party on 13/12/19 at the Ångström Library
  8. CryptoParty on 22/11/19 at the Ångström Library discussing three topics. Approaches to increase privacy both as a user of YouTube, and generally as an internet user hardening the Firefox web browser.
    • YouTube without recommendations (Slides)
      Using RSS feeds to prevent aspects of tracking from YouTube, and removing personalized recommendations. Instructions on how to set this up.
    • A Tor gatewayed platform for everyday use (Slides)
      Using a virtual machine stack with its own virtual LAN with all traffic routed into the Tor network. All to be run on top of any host operating system. The virtual machines are available for download (also through the Tor network) as easy to install images with no configuration needed. There is a Swedish article that discusses their configuration.
    • Hardening the Firefox web browser (Slides)
      How to eliminate hidden telemetry sent to Mozilla Inc, Google and Pocket.
  9. CryptoParty on 25/10/19, at the Ångström libary focussing on DNS-over-HTTPS (aka DoH; Slides)
  10. CryptoParty on 27/9/19, at the Ångström libary focussing on disposable email addresses.
  11. CryptoParty on 28/6/19, at theÅngström Library with a presentation Horse Battery Staple — correct? on password security.
  12. CryptoParty with the ACM-W student chapter on 26/4/19 at the Ångström library.
    Amelia Andersdotter: Rights are not important if you don't use them
    There is a new EU data protection legislation, GDPR, that asserts giving new protections to individuals. But is the legal framework enough to protect individuals? How do you actually make use of your data protection rights? Amelia Andersdotter will suggest some practical methods to protect personal data in spite of powerful companies and governments.
  13. CryptoParty on 22/3/19 focusing on Full Disk Encryption (Slides).
    Some relevant references:
  14. CryptoParty on 22/2/19

[1] The mailing list is hosted by Uppsala University. If you subscribe, they will process and store your mail address as long as needed to provide the mailing list service to you. You can unsubscribe at any time. CryptoParty Uppsala will not give your mail address to others.

[proprietary] Note that this software is proprietary.