So should I be worried about using it? Since it was designed by the NSA can they break it?
Is anyone here familiar with encryption? I don't know too much about it. The math is over my head.
Nope, it's just math.
The NSA has done a lot for linux and open source. For instance, they've also funded and developed SELinux, which is the best MAC on linux. Other secret services do similar things, for instance, the best MAC before SELinux, Tomoyo, was developed by the Japanese Secret Service.
Yes, it does matter that the NSA designed it. Cryptography algorithms are based on math, and here's how you can have a backdoor in one:
http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2013/09/the-many-flaws-of-dualecdrbg.html
EDIT: the backdoor in Dual_EC_DRBG is explained a lot better here: http://blog.cloudflare.com/how-the-nsa-may-have-put-a-backdoor-in-rsas-cryptography-a-technical-primer
On the other hand, SHA-2 has been published in 2001, and if there were any exploits to be found, I strongly believe that they would have been found by now, given how used it is. I feel the same way about SELinux.
Haha thanks man I feel reassured now. I did not know that. It would seem they're (the NSA and similar intelligence organisations) making their own job harder by helping develop all these encryption algorithms.
inb4 bitcoin mining is the government's way of free hash hacking
s/hacking/cracking
intelligence organizations are somewhat schizophrenic. they try to have to best security and crypto for themselves and their country but they also try to degrade security and crypto for everyone else. it doesn't work that well in a globalized world.