PlatON, the global trustless computing network, announced that it would be co-organizing and sponsoring the second iteration of theCrypto Innovation School. Accredited with the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR), CIS will be hosted in Shanghai, China from December 13-15, 2019 and has been organized in collaboration with Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Renowned scholars and experts in the field are confirmed to be in attendance. This year, award-winning computer scientist and theorist Prof. Andrew Chi-Chih Yao has been invited as an Honourary Chair. A member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yao was awarded the Knuth Prize in 1996 and the Turing Award in 2000 in recognition of his critical contributions to cryptography and computer science, such as Yaos Principle.

CIS 2019 co-chairs include the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) fellow Academician Xiaoyun Wang and Prof. Yu Yu, of Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, respectively. PlatON CEO Lilin Sun will also be serving as Executive Chair. Dr. Xie will also be serving as an organizing committee member as part of this years winter school.

With digital transformation at the forefront of the global business agenda, greater standards in information security, encryption, and data protection continue to be pioneered around the world. Despite being hidden from public view, cryptography has historically played a critical role in how digital communication and commerce has evolved throughout the years. At CIS, we allow some of the most promising minds in cryptography research to connect with renowned experts in the industry, as they work to examine and understand the current opportunities, risks, and challenges facing us today. PlatON Algorithm Scientist Dr. Xiang Xie

PlatONs trustless computing architecture leverages a broad range of cryptographic algorithms ranging from homomorphic encryption, zero-knowledge non-interactive proofs, and multi-party computation. Having previously sponsored prominent academic cryptography conferences in the past, such as IACR Crypto, Eurocrypt, Asiacrypt, and the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), encouraging research and education is a key area of focus at PlatON. Its work with CIS strives to expand the influence and application of cryptographic mechanisms amid an increasingly data-driven world.

Open to researchers, students, and cryptography enthusiasts of all levels and from all around the globe, CIS 2019 is expected to host approximately 150 attendees. Last years CIS winter school saw a diverse cohort of over 130 researchers, graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers hailing from countries such as China, India, Singapore, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, and the United States. Hosted in Shenzhen, last years program focused predominantly in areas of privacy-preserving cryptography and featured renowned academics and researchers.

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Cryptography and cybersecurity experts gather in Shanghai Dec 13-15 - CryptoNinjas

How much are people looking forward to WireGuard, the new in-kernel Linux virtual private network (VPN)? Well, Linus Torvalds said, "Can I just once again state my love for it and hope it gets merged soon? Maybe the code isn't perfect, but I've skimmed it, and compared to the horrors that are OpenVPN and IPSec, it's a work of art."

If that sounds like damning with faint praise, you don't know Torvalds. For him, this is high praise. WireGuard has now been committed to the mainline Linux kernel. While there are still tests to be made and hoops to be jumped through, it should be released in the next major Linux kernel release, 5.6, in the first or second quarter of 2020.

WireGuard has been in development for some time. It is a layer 3 secure VPN. Unlike its older rivals, which it's meant to replace, its code is much cleaner and simple. The result is a fast, easy-to-deploy VPN. While it started as a Linux project, WireGuard code is now cross-platform, and its code is now available on Windows, macOS, BSD, iOS, and Android.

It took longer to arrive than many wished because WireGuard's principal designer, Jason Donenfeld, disliked Linux's built-in cryptographic subsystem on the grounds its application programming interface (API) was too complex and difficult. He suggested it be supplemented with a new cryptographic subsystem: His own Zinc library. Many developers didn't like this. They saw this as wasting time reinventing the cryptographic well.

But Donenfeld had an important ally.

Torvalds wrote, "I'm 1000% with Jason on this. The crypto/ model is hard to use, inefficient, and completely pointless when you know what your cipher or hash algorithm is, and your CPU just does it well directly."

In the end, Donenfeld compromised. "WireGuard will get ported to the existing crypto API. So it's probably better that we just fully embrace it, and afterward work evolutionarily to get Zinc into Linux piecemeal." That's exactly what happened. Some Zine elements have been imported into the legacy crypto code in the forthcoming Linux 5.5 kernel. This laid the foundation for WireGuard to finally ship in Linux early next year.

WireGuard works by securely encapsulates IP packets over UDP. It's authentication and interface design has more to do with Secure Shell (SSH) than other VPNs. You simply configure the WireGuard interface with your private key and your peers' public keys, and you're ready to securely talk.

When it arrives, I expect WireGuard to quickly become the new standard for Linux VPNs. With its tiny code-size, high-speed cryptographic primitives, and in-kernel design, it should be faster than all other existing VPN technologies. WireGuard's not just fast, it's secure as well, with its support of state-of-the-art cryptography technologies such as the Noise protocol framework, Curve25519, ChaCha20, Poly1305, BLAKE2, SipHash24, and HKD.

All this is why some companies -- like Mullvad VPN-- adopted WireGuard long before it was incorporated into Linux. As Mullvad co-founder Fredrik Strmberg wrote two-years ago, "We find WireGuard beneficial for a number of reasons. Its simplistic design in few lines of code makes it easier for sysadmins and developers to integrate it correctly -- and harder for them to get it wrong." Thus, "WireGuard will move the world one step closer to our own vision -- of making mass surveillance ineffective."

So, say hi to the future of the VPN. Its name is WireGuard.

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At long last, WireGuard VPN is on its way into Linux - ZDNet

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Extraordinary increase in the download of mobile VPN applications worldwideCountries with the largest number of mobile VPN application downloads: Indonesia, USA UU., India.

How much do people expect from WireGuard, the new virtual private network (VPN) Linux in the kernel? Well, Linus Torvalds said: "Can I once again express my love for him and expect him to merge soon? Maybe the code isn't perfect, but I've skimmed it and, compared to the horrors of OpenVPN and IPSec, it's a artwork ".

If that sounds like condemning with weak praise, you don't know Torvalds. For him, this is a great compliment. WireGuard has now committed to the main core of Linux. While there are still tests to be done and leaps to jump, it should be launched in the next major version of the Linux kernel, 5.6, in the first or second quarter of 2020.

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WireGuard has been in development for some time. It is a secure Layer 3 VPN. Unlike its older rivals, which it is intended to replace, its code is much cleaner and simpler. The result is a fast and easy to implement VPN. While it started as a Linux project, the WireGuard code is now cross-platform, and its code is now available on Windows, macOS, BSD, iOS and Android.

They took longer to arrive than many wanted because the main WireGuard designer, Jason Donenfeld, did not like the embedded cryptographic Linux subsystem because its application programming interface (API) was too complex and difficult. He suggested that it be complemented with a new cryptographic subsystem: its own zinc library. Many developers did not like this. They saw this as wasting time reinventing the cryptographic well.

But Donenfeld had an important ally.

Torvalds wrote: "I'm 1000% with Jason on this. The model / encryption is difficult to use, inefficient and completely useless when you know what your encryption or hash algorithm is, and your CPU does it right directly."

In the end, Donenfeld got engaged. "WireGuard will move to the existing cryptographic API. Therefore, it is probably better that we adopt it completely and then work evolutionarily to bring Zinc to Linux little by little." That's exactly what happened. Some elements of Zine have been imported into the cryptographic code inherited in the next Linux 5.5 kernel. This laid the groundwork for WireGuard to finally be distributed on Linux early next year.

WireGuard works by encapsulating IP packets securely through UDP. Its authentication and interface design has more to do with Secure Shell (SSH) than other VPNs. Simply configure the WireGuard interface with your private key and the public keys of your peers, and you will be ready to speak safely.

When I arrive, I hope WireGuard will quickly become the new standard for Linux VPNs. With its small code size, high-speed cryptographic primitives and core design, it should be faster than all other existing VPN technologies. WireGuard is not only fast, it is also secure, with its support of state-of-the-art cryptography technologies, such as the Noise protocol framework, Curve25519, ChaCha20, Poly1305, BLAKE2, SipHash24 and HKD.

All this is why some companies, such as Mullvad VPN, adopted WireGuard long before it joined Linux. As Fredrik Strmberg, co-founder of Mullvad, wrote two years ago: "We believe that WireGuard is beneficial for several reasons. Its simplistic design in few lines of code makes it easier for system administrators and developers to integrate it correctly, and it is more difficult for them do it wrong. " Therefore, "WireGuard will bring the world one step closer to our own vision: make mass surveillance ineffective."

Then, say hello to the future of the VPN. It is called WireGuard.

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Finally, WireGuard VPN is on its way to Linux - Mash Viral

Despite having a boatload of setbacks, the crypto industry has shown steady growth. Now we are at the end of 2019 and here are some crypto projects to look out for in 2020

Saga is a money venture firm seeking to develop its own digital asset SGA as a global currency. The company is based in the United Kingdom and has been working on the project for 24 months ahead of ERC-20 token launch.The company would initially back the asset by a reserve of various fiat currencies. As trust in the asset grows, the reserves would be reduced such that the asset becomes totally independant.

The project attracted a seed funding of 30 million dollars and boasts an advisory board consisting of members from various major industry names including chairman of JPMorgan Chase Internation and former governor of the Bank of Israel. These factors certainly make it one of the crypto projects to look out for in the next year.

RSK is a Bitcoin-based smart contract platform. The second layer protocol seeks to enhance the development of Bitcoin and help it maintain its position as the king of crypto assets. RSK is working to improve the defi ecosystem of the Bitcoin blockchain to make it more attractive for smart contract developers.

QAN is a quantum-proof blockchain platform. Quantum computing is a threat to network security and would only deter the passage of time. However, QAN uses Lattice cryptography to secure its ledger against quantum attacks. This type of cryptography gives a huge boost to network security and increases the scalability of the network.

Fetch.ai allows companies to interact with the servers of other companies directly. It enables firms to pose questions regarding datasets on other firms networks, while payments are made through digital assets. The platform connects IoT devices to form a decentralised economic internet.

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Crypto projects to look out for in 2020 - Cryptopolitan

The majority of cybersecurity professionals believe quantum computing will develop faster than other security technologies, but for them thats cause for concern.

According to a new report by the Neustar International Security Council (NISC), almost three quarters (74 per cent) are keeping a close eye on the tech, while 21 per cent are doing experiments of their own. To tackle the potential coming crisis, a third (35 per cent) are already developing a quantum strategy, while just 16 per cent arent yet thinking about it.

The vast majority believe quantum computing could become a problem for encryption within five years. Just seven per cent believe quantum supremacy will never happen.

At the same time, almost all CISOs, CSO, CTOs and other security directors are feeling excitement over the potential positive changes quantum computing may bring.

At the moment, we rely on encryption, which is possible to crack in theory, but impossible to crack in practice, precisely because it would take so long to do so, over timescales of trillions or even quadrillions of years, said Rodney Joffe, Chairman of NISC and Security CTO at Neustar.

Without the protective shield of encryption, a quantum computer in the hands of a malicious actor could launch a cyberattack unlike anything weve ever seen.

According to Joffe, the cybersecurity community is already hard at work, researching quantum-proof cryptography.

IT experts of every stripe will need to work to rebuild the algorithms, strategies, and systems that form our approach to cybersecurity, Joffe concluded.

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Quantum computing could be the next big security breakthrough - ITProPortal

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cybersecurity research and consulting firm Trail of Bits recently announced the launch of Mainnet360, the first service to provide a comprehensive assessment of both the security and economic elements of blockchain software. Trail of Bits developed Mainnet360 over several months this year in partnership with Prysm Group, an economic consulting firm specializing in supporting teams that create incentive-compatible blockchain systems.

A new kind of security

One of the most overlooked concepts underlying the blockchain boom is economic security. While the security of Bitcoin depends on traditional notions of cryptography and code correctness, it also depends on humans making economically rational decisions at scale. This is the core idea behind the Proof-of-Work algorithm that backs Bitcoins consensus.

Building software that relies on economic security allows for engineering feats that were never previously possible, such as permissionless electronic money. However, understanding precisely when these systems are secure is extremely challenging, and little research currently exists. To remedy this problem, DARPA held a workshop entitled Applications and Barriers to Consensus Protocols at their headquarters earlier this year.

Thanks to an introduction by DARPA at this workshop, employees at Trail of Bits and Prysm group realized there were almost no resources for blockchain companies trying to build systems resilient against failures in code correctness or economic design. Existing offerings were limited in scope, while attackers worked much more holistically.

Solving correlated problems with a joint offering: Mainnet360

Blockchain networks require both an economic review and a code review to ensure security. Mainnet360 is the first service to provide both.

It takes a complex interaction of economics and computer science to secure blockchain systems; implementation errors in either area allow value to be stolen, destroyed, or not fully captured. Mainnet360 clients will receive a comprehensive review of both the economic framework that drives their system and the code with which it is implemented. In this way, Mainnet360 confirms that a systems deployed code is correct and incentivizes users to add value to the system.

Delivering all-in-one expertise

Building stable decentralized systems requires a broad set of experts cooperating closely, which Mainnet360 provides in one convenient package. The Mainnet360 team will work closely with developers to identify and remove risks, architect future work, and find the ideal technical solutions with the economic constraints in mind.

Offering new benefits for blockchain platforms

In addition to system design review, Trail of Bits specializes in creating testing and verification tools. Now with the support of Prysm Group, Trail of Bits is extending this tooling further to verify economic properties.

Interested teams can learn more about using Mainnet360 by emailing contact@mainnet360.com or by visiting http://www.mainnet360.com

About Trail of Bits

Since 2012, Trail of Bits has helped secure some of the worlds most targeted organizations and products. They combine high-end security research with a realworld attacker mentality to reduce risk and fortify code.

About Prysm Group

Prysm Group is a blockchain economics and governance design firm led by Harvard-trained PhD-level economists with areas of expertise in consortium governance, consensus governance, token economics, incentive design, and market structure. Taking a first-principles approach, Prysm Group uses the tools of contract theory, game theory, market design, social choice theory, and monetary economics to design customized solutions for distributed ledger technology and blockchain-based projects.

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Trail of Bits and Prysm Group Launch Mainnet360 - Business Wire

Ethereums Istanbul hard fork is going to be held on Saturday, 7th Dec 2019. This Istanbul hard fork update involves specific changes in the Ethereum network.

The main focus of this upgrade would be on the improvement of Ethereums privacy, scalability, and better sidechain support. Here are these changes that would take place during this upgrade.

In this upgrade, Ethereum would be looking to update the Zero-knowledge cryptographic technology that is responsible for the privacy of ERC-based tokens. Also, this technology improves Ethereums scalability by using off-chain solutions.

Earlier before, this zero-knowledge cryptographic technology has been regarded as a future and positive addition to the Ethereum protocol.

This upcoming Ethereum Istanbul hard fork aims to add six Ethereum improvement proposals out of thirty. These proposals will enable smart contract developers to introduce new features including privacy protocol and side-chain scaling to the Ethereum chain.

Among these six proposals, first is EIP-1108. This usually optimizes routines for the elliptic curve arithmetic. The main purpose of this proposal is to change the computational pricing for the elliptic curve algorithms.

These changes are considered important for several projects building on this platform. For instance, AZTEC protocol and ZEther implement zero-knowledge proofs and confidential transactions. This AZTEC protocol provided by the proposal is regarded as an effective reduction by the team:

It currently costs 820,000 gas to validate the cryptography in a typical AZTEC confidential transaction. If the gas schedule for the precompiles correctly reflected their load on the Ethereum network, this cost would be 197,000 gas [about $0.23 at current average gas prices].

EIP-152 is the second proposal that allows direct integrations with the Zcash privacy coin. This upgrade involves the advanced versions of Blake2b hash functions.

The next optimization proposal is EIP-2028 to benefit the zero-knowledge based system. This upgrading proposal decreases the gas cost of Call data and allows an increase in the bandwidth of data transfer.

In order to improve security, the EIP-1344 proposal is used that will bring a new method that will be used to return the ID of the current chain.

The last two Ethereum improvement proposals are EIP-2200 and EIP-1884. These are responsible for improving the structure of gas and for re-pricing different functions respectively.

Ethereum Istanbul hard fork will improve its privacy, scalability, and also the side-chain support. For this purpose, Ethereum would be upgrading six proposals and Zero-knowledge cryptography technology.

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ETH Istanbul Hard Fork : Here are the changes that will take... - TokenHell

Shenzhen. Source: iStock/Nikada

Chinas central bank, the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) is preparing to test the digital yuan in Suzhou and Shenzhen, with a pilot launch now imminent, per a new report.

Media outlet Caijing Magazine says it has learned details about the pilot project, which it says is being jointly led by the PBoC, as well as the so-called Chinese big four state-owned commercial banks, namely the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China and the China Construction Bank.

Chinas three largest telecoms providers are also set to take part in the pilot with the state-owned China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom all named in the report.

Caijing adds that the PBoC could seek to increase the scope of its pilots, with other, as yet unnamed mainland locations being considered.

The PBoC has previously spoken about the possibility of conducting pilots before issuing a nationwide rollout, and has stated that it is aiming to introduce the digital yuan gradually.

The same media outlet also quotes an unnamed senior technical expert as stating that the PBoC has been working on a range of issues, but there is still a long way to go on the technical front before a rollout can be approved.

And the reports authors believe that the project will make use of cloud-based technology and possibly 5G networks two of Huaweis core business areas. The Chinese tech giant has been repeatedly mentioned as a possible digital yuan partner for the PBoC, with Caijing also stating that the company may well lend its support.

As previously reported, Shenzhen has shown a great willingness to build up its blockchain sector. A state-owned PBoC subsidiary company went on a recruiting drive in summer this year.

And Caijing says a central bank-owned fintech company based in Suzhou has been rushing to recruit blockchain talent of late. The companys official remit is conducting digital currency and cryptography-related research.

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China to Pilot Digital Yuan With Four Banks in Two Cities - Report - Cryptonews

According to Coin Metrics data, last year, Zcash started to stop using a negative price.

In January 2018, Zcash saw the peak in the number of active addresses with more than 100.000 active addresses and the number of active addresses started to decrease gradually. The decline started slowly and Zcash maintained its 90,000 active addresses until June 2018.

Throughout the rest of 2018, things have changed dramatically in July 2018, where the number of active addresses has halved, before continuing to decline rapidly to date. The number of active Zcash addresses has now reached 11.218, the lowest level since October 2016.

Zcash uses a complex cryptography (encryption) to allow completely private crypto currency transactions. However, unlike Monero, custom operations are not enabled by default. As a result, the use of privacy features has historically been low. Worse still, many crypto currency exchanges began to delistice their privacy coins due to legal concerns, and as a result, such crypto currencies lost momentum.

Zcash also fell to close to 97 percent, dropping to its current value of $ 27.84 after its $ 900 peak in January 2018 over the past two years. The price has just fallen by almost half in the last year.

People trade less Zcash now. Zcash saw last years trading volume continue to decline as it fell to $ 150 million in the second quarter of 2019, after a summit of over $ 300 million per day.

Although Zcash has seen the number of active wallet addresses decrease in recent months, the market-wide trend is different. Many other crypto currencies have recently experienced a significant rise in network activity. Among them, Decred (DCR) stands out, and the crypto currency has seen a dramatic increase in the number of active addresses in the second half of 2019, moving towards the all-time high, and trading volume has risen considerably. However, the price of the DCR fell by 30 percent during the same period.

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Is the Privacy Coin Ending Zcash (ZEC)? - Somag News

Cryptography is widely used in modern technology, particularly in software. The primary purpose of cryptography is to provide confidentiality of data, but it is also used for authentication, and to verify data integrity. However, cryptography is fragile, and a single error in design or implementation can render it completely useless.

Cryptography remains cryptic and complex because most people dont have the time or the desire to become a cryptography expert. But a high-level understanding of applied cryptography and cryptanalysis is valuable to developers and hackers alike. Understanding when, why and how cryptography should be used in different contexts is important to ensure that the software is actually receiving the desired level of protection. And the ability to recognize misuse of cryptography can be useful for a hacker trying to determine whether encrypted data can be broken with ease or is beyond their capabilities.

Before digging into the details of how cryptography is used and can be broken, its important to understand the basic principles of cryptography, the types of cryptographic algorithms and how they can be used.

Symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms perform similar actions, but they have their own advantages and disadvantages. Hash functions, on the other hand, may look similar (and are cryptographic algorithms), but they work differently and are used for different purposes. Most cryptographic algorithms have libraries that make them plug-and-play; however, this is of limited utility if you dont know which one is right for the job.

Cryptography is used every day at the core of a variety of technologies and some of the largest applications in the modern world, including:

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is the backbone of many modern uses of encryption. Digitally signed email and websites that have URLs that (Read more...)

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Knowledge and Skills Related to Applied Cryptography and Cryptanalysis - Security Boulevard