There seem to be quite a few people here on Steemit who are into cryptography. If you or anyone you know wants to get boned up on the basics, here's a YouTube series I made over the course of the last few years. It's a 3-part educational series covered over 16 videos and runs just over three hours all total. It starts from scratch, with the viewer not having to know anything other than basic math.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSPi1JFx4_-EYCJu93ZDyY-GvWpY09nQf
Here's the first video to get you going: