odvious

I have noticed quite a few HN users are well versed in security and various attacks (recently mentioned is the "cleaning lady" attack by cperciva (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=895411)). I consider myself well versed in basic web attacks (SQL injection, CSRF, etc.), but I would love to learn more about the algorithms themselves and I'm wondering where you guys/gals learned about encryption algorithms in general and the various attacks on them. Same thing with the general security issues (like the one discovered by dfranke on hacking arc).

Are there any resources you could recommend to those (like me) who want to learn more?

I have been mulling this idea around in my head for the better part of a year now and wanted to get the feedback of the community.

What I would like to do is put together a completely virtaulized version of the YC model (with a twist).

In this model, I would not take an equity stake, nor would I be investing in the companies directly. Instead, I would pick 10 or 15 teams bi-yearly and give them access to resources. Teams would remain in their own location, but we'd meet via webcast every week, hopefully with guest speakers. I doubt the speakers would be nearly as forthcoming as they would be face to face, but I think it could still be a very valuable experience and may still instill the peer pressure (though on a lesser scale) that YC does to push people to get stuff done.

Do you think it would work? Why or why not? What would you change?

I'm curious to hear your thoughts, comments, questions and concerns.