[tptacek]

Don't sell yourself short. If you can write the Python code to work out the Pigpen key "VAMPIRE", you can break poorly-implemented AES, RSA, and ECC.

http://cryptopals.com/

Set #1 starts out with a simpler problem than Pigpen, and then a problem that's just barely harder than Pigpen, but that requires actual code and whose solution will also help you break repeated-nonce AES-CTR.

[rbritton]

I started going through those somewhat recently and have really enjoyed it. Thanks for putting that together.

For anyone else looking for another one along the same lines, this is a good one too: http://overthewire.org/wargames/natas/natas0.html

[fapjacks]

OverTheWire is phenomenal. I've been recommending it since before it was OverTheWire. I believe it used to be called "PullThePlug". Great suggestion, anyway.