Cypherpunk 101 Curriculum

12 weeks. Zero to crypto-capable. All hands-on.

Current Status: Week 1 is live. Start now. New weeks release as completed.

🚀 Quick Start

→ Start Week 1 Now

📚 Course Overview

• Total Duration: 12 weeks
• Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per week
• Skill Level: Beginner-friendly (basic Linux CLI knowledge required)
• Cost: Free forever
• Format: Self-paced, hands-on labs

📊 Learning Path

Week 1-3:  Foundations (philosophy, crypto, GPG)
           ↓
Week 4-5:  Secure everything (communications, storage)
           ↓
Week 6-8:  Network like a ghost (Tor, SSH, identity)
           ↓
Week 9-10: Automate and integrate (scripting, projects)
           ↓
Week 11-12: Advanced concepts (distributed systems, protocols)

Week-by-Week Details

✅ Week 1: Cypherpunk Ideals & Threat Modeling

Status: 🟢 Available Now | Difficulty: Beginner | Time: 4-5 hours

What You’ll Learn:

• The cypherpunk manifesto and philosophy
• Why privacy matters in the digital age
• Building your personal threat model
• Setting up a secure development environment
• Understanding adversaries and attack vectors

What You’ll Build:

• Your personal threat model document
• Secure Linux workspace

→ Start Week 1

🔜 Week 2: Cryptography Fundamentals

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Beginner | Estimated Time: 5-6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 1

What You’ll Learn:

• Symmetric vs. asymmetric encryption
• Hash functions and their properties
• Entropy and randomness
• How encryption algorithms actually work
• Common crypto primitives (AES, RSA, SHA-256)

What You’ll Build:

• Hands-on encryption/decryption exercises
• Hash verification workflows

🔜 Week 3: GnuPG Basics

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Beginner | Estimated Time: 5-6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 2

What You’ll Learn:

• GPG keypair generation and management
• Encrypting and decrypting files
• Digital signatures and verification
• Web of trust concepts
• Key servers and distribution

What You’ll Build:

• Your first GPG keypair
• Encrypted file workflows
• Signed messages

🔜 Week 4: Secure Communications

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 5-6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 3

What You’ll Learn:

• Email encryption with GPG
• Secure messaging (Signal, Element/Matrix)
• Metadata and what it reveals
• Forward secrecy and perfect forward secrecy
• Communication protocol analysis

What You’ll Build:

• Encrypted email setup
• Secure messaging configurations
• Metadata minimization strategies

🔜 Week 5: Filesystem & Disk Encryption

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 5-6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 4

What You’ll Learn:

• Encrypted filesystems (gocryptfs, eCryptfs)
• Full disk encryption (LUKS)
• Encrypted backups
• Key management strategies
• Data-at-rest protection

What You’ll Build:

• Encrypted filesystem for sensitive data
• Automated encrypted backup system

🔜 Week 6: Networking & Anonymity

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 5

What You’ll Learn:

• Tor network architecture and usage
• VPNs vs. Tor (when to use each)
• DNS privacy and DNS-over-HTTPS
• Network traffic analysis
• Correlation attacks and defenses

What You’ll Build:

• Properly configured Tor setup
• Privacy-respecting DNS configuration
• Network traffic routing strategies

🔜 Week 7: SSH & Secure Shell Habits

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 5 hours | Prerequisites: Week 6

What You’ll Learn:

• SSH key authentication
• SSH tunnels and port forwarding
• Jump boxes and bastion hosts
• SSH hardening and best practices
• Certificate-based SSH authentication

What You’ll Build:

• SSH key infrastructure
• Secure remote access setup
• Tunneled connections

🔜 Week 8: Identity Hygiene

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 5-6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 7

What You’ll Learn:

• Operational security (OpSec) principles
• Digital identity compartmentalization
• Virtual machines for isolation
• Browser fingerprinting and defenses
• OSINT awareness (what others can find about you)

What You’ll Build:

• Compartmentalized identity strategy
• VM-based isolation setup
• Privacy-hardened browser configurations

🔜 Week 9: Automation & Scripting

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Intermediate | Estimated Time: 6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 8

What You’ll Learn:

• Automating encryption workflows
• Cron jobs and systemd timers
• Bash scripting for security tasks
• Encrypted log management
• Secure backup automation

What You’ll Build:

• Automated encrypted backup scripts
• Security monitoring scripts
• Workflow automation tools

🔜 Week 10: Real-World Projects

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Advanced | Estimated Time: 6-8 hours | Prerequisites: Weeks 1-9

What You’ll Learn:

• Combining all previous weeks’ skills
• End-to-end encrypted workflows
• Building privacy-respecting systems
• Threat model implementation
• Security architecture design

What You’ll Build:

• Complete encrypted communication system
• Personal privacy infrastructure
• Real-world project of your choice

🔜 Week 11: Distributed Systems

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Advanced | Estimated Time: 6 hours | Prerequisites: Week 10

What You’ll Learn:

• Decentralized systems and consensus
• Distributed hash tables (DHTs)
• Peer-to-peer networking
• Blockchain basics (the tech, not the hype)
• Censorship-resistant architectures

What You’ll Build:

• P2P application exploration
• Decentralized system analysis

🔜 Week 12: Advanced Protocols

Status: 🔵 Coming Soon | Difficulty: Advanced | Estimated Time: 6-8 hours | Prerequisites: Week 11

What You’ll Learn:

• Advanced cryptographic protocols
• Multi-party computation concepts
• Secure multi-party communication
• Protocol design and analysis
• Cryptographic best practices

What You’ll Build:

• Advanced encrypted communication setups
• Protocol implementation analysis
• Your complete cypherpunk toolkit

🎓 After Completion

Once you’ve mastered Cypherpunk 101, explore:

• Privacy 101 (Week 1 live now!) - Beginner-friendly, GUI-first privacy fundamentals
• Advanced Cypherpunk (coming later) - Post-quantum crypto, zero-knowledge proofs, advanced protocols

💬 Questions or Feedback?

• Found an error? Report it here (GitHub Issues coming soon)
• Need help? Questions answered as community grows
• Want updates? New weeks are announced as they release

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