What Is Cryptography in Cyber Security: Types, Examples & More

Cryptography is one of the oldest and most widely used tools for safeguarding IT assets. Nearly every business relies on cryptography to secure sensitive data and IT infrastructure. So, what is cryptography in cyber security, and how can it help you optimize your security posture? Put simply, its a way to make information unreadable by attackers, even if it is compromised.

Cryptography in computer network security is the process of protecting sensitive information from unauthorized access when it is at rest or in transit by rendering it unreadable without a key. Leveraging encryption, cryptography helps users secure data transmission over networks, ensuring that only individuals with designated keys can access encrypted data.

To answer the question, what is cryptography in cyber security?, this blog will:

In most cases, cryptography needs will vary depending on an organizations structure, security controls, and broader governance requirements. Partnering with a managed security services provider (MSSP) is the best way to optimize cryptography protection to your specific needs.

There is no shortage of methods of cryptography available on the market, so you might be wondering which cryptography types will work best for your organizations security needs.

In general, there are two types of cryptography widely used for cybersecurity applications:

Also called secret key cryptography, symmetric cryptography functions via cryptographic key sharing between users. In this method, the same key is used to encrypt and decrypt data and is typically shared between users. In theory, only an individual with a unique cryptographic key should be able to decrypt the encrypted data. Symmetric cryptography is often used to safeguard the local storage of sensitive data on drives or servers.

On another level, asymmetric cryptography is typically used to safeguard the transmission of sensitive data across public networks. Asymmetric cryptography is also called public key cryptography because its users must have two keys. One of the keys is considered a public key that can be provided to anyone either user communicates with. However, the second key decrypts the encrypted data and is meant to be kept private.

So how exactly does cryptography work? In practice, as with the primary types, there are two primary approaches or methods of cryptography, which work hand in hand to secure data:

Data encryption refers to the process of using an algorithm to convert binary data from one form to another, accessible only by a specific key. For encryption to work, an algorithm converts plaintext into a difficult-to-decipher form (also called ciphertext), which can only be converted back to plaintext with a cryptographic key. Developing complex encryption algorithms will help increase the security of data transmission and minimize the risks of data being compromised.

Decryption essentially reverses encryption. Using a cryptographic key that matches the encryption algorithm, a user can decrypt sensitive data whether at rest or in transit.

Depending on the complexity and robustness of the algorithms you use, both encryption and decryption in cryptography will help optimize your security posture and safeguard sensitive data.

With wide-reaching applications, cryptography can help secure a wide range of sensitive digital environments, regardless of organization size, business needs, or industry. Your choice of cryptographic solutions will depend on the type of security controls you need to implement.

Below are some of the common uses of cryptography:

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies enable employees to use their own personal phones and computers at work or for workon premises and, potentially, for completing work tasks. But BYOD devices are at high risk for security threats if theyre used on unsecured, public networks.

The risk of data breaches is even higher if employees transmit sensitive data on these devices.

You should consider implementing BYOD device encryption if your employees can work remotely using their personal devices or bring them into work environments altogether.

Any emails containing sensitive data should be secured using industry-standard encryption algorithms that minimize the chances that cybercriminals will access the emailsor be able to read and use data within if they are accessed. End-to-end encryption tools can help secure sensitive emails, especially if private and public keys used to encrypt the emails are kept safe.

Encryption also extends to databases containing sensitive information such as:

Database encryption is critical to mitigating threat risks to data at rest across on-premise and cloud databases.

Encryption is also an essential tool for safeguarding your companys sensitive data such as:

One of the most common database encryption tools is transparent data encryption (TDE), which encrypts most SQL-based databases.

Secure websites are typically encrypted by the HTTPS protocol, which helps safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of transactions on the Internet.

HTTPS encryption also helps mitigate attacks like DNS spoofing, where cybercriminals attempt to direct users to unsecured websites to steal their sensitive information. HTTPS encryption is also widely implemented in customer-facing industries like retail, where customers can immediately identify an unsecured website based on the https in a websites URL.

Cryptography protection keeps your data confidential and maintain its integrity. Below are some benefits of email encryption, which can also apply to other forms of cryptography:

Encryption helps keep sensitive data confidential and minimize any risks of the data being exposed to cybercriminals. It is far easier to invest in a robust encryption method than risk compromising sensitive data belonging to valuable customers, vendors, or business partners.

When integrated into email applications, encryption can help identify potential phishing attempts and verify the authenticity of email senders, links, and attachments. Encryption will also make it easier for your employees to identify phishing threats and prevent any full-blown attacks.

Encryption also helps preserve the integrity of your sensitive data. Specifically, data is susceptible to security risks when its stored locally or in the cloud and during its transmission from one party to another. Using industry-standard encryption algorithms will help keep your data secure at all stages of storage or transmission.

Cryptography protection can also provide non-repudiation assurance, ensuring both parties receive confirmation of data transmission. When transmitting highly sensitive data to business partners, customers, or vendors encrypting your emails will also help avoid any legal issues, should one party claim a message was not sent, received, or processed.

Back to the starting question: what is cryptography in cyber security? Its a set of tools to help your organization keep data and other sensitive IT assets safe. Partnering with RSI Security will help optimize your cryptography, in-house or outsourced. Our cryptography services include:

As an experienced MSSP, our team of experts understands just how cumbersome it is to manage the encryption of endpoints across an organization. As threats keep evolving in todays IT landscape, we help optimize cryptography and ensure that encryption tools work robustly within your cybersecurity framework. To learn more, contact RSI Security today!

Read the original here:
What Is Cryptography in Cyber Security: Types, Examples & More

Cloudflares post-quantum cryptography protects almost a fifth of the internet – VentureBeat

Learn how your company can create applications to automate tasks and generate further efficiencies through low-code/no-code tools on November 9 at the virtual Low-Code/No-Code Summit. Register here.

The countdown to Y2Q, the day when quantum computers can decrypt public key algorithms, is on. While researchers dont know exactly when this will happen, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) estimates this could be as soon as April 14, 2030.

Although many organizations are waiting for post-quantum threats to become tangible before taking action against them, other providers like Content Delivery Network (CDN) giant Cloudflare are diving straight in and responding with quantum-safe solutions.

Today, Cloudflare announced it has launched post-quantum cryptography support for all websites and APIs served through its network. Essentially, this will introduce quantum computer-proof encryption for all sites using Cloudflare, which accounts for 19.1% of all websites according to W3Techs.

Above all, the fact that a prominent security vendor like Cloudflare is committing to post-quantum cryptographyhighlights that enterprises should take the threat of malicious quantum computers seriously.

Low-Code/No-Code Summit

Join todays leading executives at the Low-Code/No-Code Summit virtually on November 9. Register for your free pass today.

The announcement comes shortly after Cloudflare announced the release of the first Zero Trust SIM to secure mobile devices, and a $1.25 billion funding program designed to help startups scale their businesses.

Now Cloudflare is the first content delivery network to support post-quantum TLS based on NISTs chosen cyber algorithm. While this decision may seem premature, its at the perfect time to prevent harvest now, decrypt later style attacks.

Currently, threat actors and nation-states can collect encrypted data with the intention to decrypt it once quantum computing advances to the level necessary to decrypt it.

There is an expiration date on the cryptography we use every day. Its not easy to read, but somewhere between 15 or 40 years, a sufficiently powerful quantum computer is expected to be built thatll be able to decrypt essentially any encrypted data on the Internet today, wrote Cloudflare in the announcement blog post.

Starting today, as a beta service, all websites and APIs served through Cloudflare support post-quantum hybrid key agreement. This is on by default; no need for an opt-in. This means that if your browser/app supports it, the connection to our network is also secure against any future quantum computer, the post said.

As quantum computers develop further, interest in post-quantum cryptography continues to grow, with researchers anticipating that the post-quantum cryptography market will reach a value of $476.8 million by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.67%.

Of course, Cloudflare isnt the only provider taking post-quantum threats seriously. Other vendors like PQShield, which announced raising $20 million in funding earlier this year, are leveraging post-quantum cryptography to enable enterprises to develop secure cryptographic solutions for messaging platforms, apps and mobile technologies.

Likewise, SandboxAQ, which Alphabet spun off at the start of this year with 9 figures in funding, is combining artificial intelligence and quantum computing together to offer next-generation encryption solutions.

The vendors Security AQ Analyzer creates a cryptographic inventory to understand an organizations cryptographic posture and helps plan the move to post-quantum cryptography. Its Security AW Maestro solution then uses machine learning to automate the orchestration of algorithms and protocols to optimize performance for end users.

However, Cloudflares widespread reach as one of the largest CDN providers in the market gives it the potential to contribute to the most widespread adoption of post-quantum cryptography yet.

VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings.

See more here:
Cloudflares post-quantum cryptography protects almost a fifth of the internet - VentureBeat

Nobel Prize in Physics goes to scientists who paved the way for quantum computing – Space.com

Three scientists who laid the groundwork for the understanding of the odd "entangling" behavior of quantum particles have received the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics.

French physicist Alain Aspect, Austria's Anton Zeilinger and American John Clauser were honored for their experiments exploring the nature of entangled quantum particles.

Defying the logic of our everyday reality, such particles behave like a single unit even when they are far away from each other. Engineers are currently working on harnessing this odd behavior in a range of revolutionary technologies, including quantum computing and quantum cryptography, a supposedly unbreakable technique of secure information coding.

The beginning of quantum theory dates back to the great physicists of the early 20th century, including Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. But the generation represented by the three new Nobel Prize laureates bridged the gap between theory and practical experiments and applications.

Related: 10 mind-boggling things you should know about quantum physics

"Quantum information science is a vibrant and rapidly developing field. It has a broad range of potential implications in areas such as secure information transfer, quantum computing and sensing technology," Eva Olsson, a member of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said in a news conference on Tuesday(Oct.4). "This year's Nobel Prize in Physics honors the groundbreaking work and science of the central figures who took up the challenges and tackled them in laboratories."

One of the most mature applications of quantum technology is quantum cryptography, which takes advantage of the fact that changes made to one particle in an entangled system affect the other. Encryption keys to secret messages can therefore be encoded into the quantum states of such particles. These keys can be exchanged between the parties in the communication process securely, because any interception of the secret keys by a third party would inherently change the particles' quantum state and render the keys invalid.

Quantum key distribution via satellites was first demonstrated by China in 2016 as part of its Quantum Experiments at Space Scale project. Countries all over the world have since begun developing similar technologies.

Perhaps the most high-profile application of entangled quantum particles is in the nascent field of quantum computing. Quantum computers encode information into the quantum states of particles, which can lead to giant leaps in the speed of information processing.

Scientists believe that, once up and running, quantum computers will accelerate drug research, material science and lead to improvements in climate change modeling and weather forecasting, among other benefits.

"It has become increasingly clear that a new kind of quantum technology is emerging," Anders Irbck, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said in a statement. "We can see that the laureates' work with entangled states is of great importance, even beyond the fundamental questions about the interpretation of quantum mechanics."

"This prize demonstrates the fundamental beauty of physics," Penelope Lewis, the chief publishing officer of the American Institute of Physics' publishing department, commented in a statement. "With their pioneering experiments in quantum entanglement, Aspect, Clauser, and Zeilinger brought quantum mechanics out of its philosophical beginnings dating back nearly a century and into the present day. Their experiments laid the groundwork for incredible advances in quantum computing and cryptography, technologies with the potential to transform the modern world."

Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and on Facebook (opens in new tab).

See the article here:
Nobel Prize in Physics goes to scientists who paved the way for quantum computing - Space.com

The 2nd Annual Encryption Consulting Conference is Back! – PR Newswire

"A leading cryptography event delivering on key topics to secure and protect data information."

PROSPER, Texas, Oct. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Encryption Consulting LLC specializes in assessing, strategizing, and building trusted protection plans for our clients. This year we host our second annual conference where we focus on hosting an event that highlights and discusses industry topics amongst the most expert speakers and notable organizations.

This event is for anyone with a desire to learn more about cryptography, PKI, Encryption, Data Protection, Cloud Key management, and other related topics. Our speakers range from leading global organizations and partners such as Thales, Protegrity, Anjuna, and more. Have your questions answered by speakers at our live Q&A.

The 2nd Annual Encryption Consulting Conference is Back!

Join us for this free 2-day virtual event happening from November 3 - 4. To register and learn more about the program and event details please visit the link below.

https://hopin.com/events/encryption-consulting-conference-2022/registration

See you there!

Contact: Puneet SinghCEO & President[emailprotected]469-400-7592

SOURCE Encryption Consulting

Read more:
The 2nd Annual Encryption Consulting Conference is Back! - PR Newswire

Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) is Officially an Internet Standard, Says The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) – bitcoinke.io

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international organization thatcreates standards for the World Wide Web, has announced that Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 is now an official Web standard.

This new type of verifiable identifier, which does not require a centralized registry, will enable both individuals and organizations to take greater control of their online information and relationships while also providing greater security and privacy.

There is a historical analog to this announcement in the evolution of mobile phone numbers. Originally these were owned by the mobile carrier and rented to the individual. This required individuals to change numbers if they changed carriers. With the adoption of mobile phone number portability, individuals could now take their numbers with them when switching carriers.

The same is true of most email addresses and social network addresses today they are not owned by individuals and must be changed if the individual changes providers. By contrast, W3C Decentralized Identifiers can be controlled by the individuals or organizations that create them, are portable between service providers, and can last for as long as their controller wants to continue using them.

Whats more, DIDs have the unique property of enabling the controller to verify ownership of the DID using cryptography. This can enable any controller of a DID an individual, an organization, an online community, a government, an IoT device to engage in more trustworthy transactions online. For individuals in particular, DIDs can put them back in control of their personal data and consent, and also enable more respectful bi-directional trust relationships where forgery is prevented, privacy is honored, and usability is enhanced.

Fundamentally, Decentralized Identifiers are a new type of globally unambiguous identifier that can be used to identify any subject (e.g., a person, an organization, a device, a product, a location, even an abstract entity or a concept). Each DID resolves to a DID document that contains the cryptographic material and other metadata for controlling the DID. The foundational pillars of the DID specification are:

W3C Decentralized Identifiers, coupled with W3C Verifiable Credentials, are being used across a number of markets where identification and data authenticity is a concern:

W3C, composed of over 450 organizations, has made the investment in W3C Decentralized Identifiers and W3C Verifiable Credentials to ensure a more decentralized, privacy-respecting, and consent-based data sharing ecosystem.

Official standards work will continue on these technologies through the newly re-chartered W3C Verifiable Credentials 2.0 Working Group, which will focus on expanding functionality based on market feedback. Further incubation on future privacy-respecting technologies will occur through the W3C Credentials Community Group, which is open to participation by the general public.

_________________

The mission of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is to lead the Web to its full potential by creating technical standards and guidelines to ensure that the Web remains open, accessible, and interoperable for everyone around the globe.

W3C well-known standards in HTML and CSS are the foundational technologies upon which websites are built. W3C works on ensuring that all foundational Web technologies meet the needs of civil society, in areas such as accessibility, internationalization, security, and privacy. W3C also provides the standards that undergird the infrastructure for modern businesses leveraging the Web, in areas such as entertainment, communications, digital publishing, and financial services. That work is created in the open, provided for free, and under the groundbreaking W3C Patent Policy.

W3Cs vision for One Web brings together thousands of dedicated technologists representing more than 400 Member organizationsand dozens of industry sectors. W3C is jointly hosted by theMIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory(MIT CSAIL) in the United States, theEuropean Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics(ERCIM) headquartered in France,Keio Universityin Japan andBeihang Universityin China.

For more information seehttps://www.w3.org/.

___________________________

Follow us onTwitterfor the latest posts and updates

Join and interact with ourTelegram community

___________________________

Read more:
Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) is Officially an Internet Standard, Says The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - bitcoinke.io

Cryptocurrency users with gambling affinity are more involved mentally and financially than non-gambling users – PsyPost

Cryptocurrency users who also gamble tend to be more mentally involved compared to their non-gambling counterparts, according to new research published in Computers in Human Behavior. The new study provides insight into some of the psychological patterns that characterize heavy cryptocurrency users.

Cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses strong cryptography to secure financial transactions, control the creation of additional units, and verify the transfer of assets. Bitcoin, the first and most well-known cryptocurrency, was created in 2009. Since then, cryptocurrencies have become increasingly popular. But prices can fluctuate rapidly and investing in cryptocurrencies involves substantial risk.

The risk-taking aspect of cryptocurrencies has led researchers to examine the potential link between cryptocurrency trading and problem gambling. Study author Fred Steinmetz noted that trust in cryptocurrency and ideological motivation might play a substantial role in the use of cryptocurrency. Furthermore, little is known about cryptocurrency users who also gamble

Since the beginning of my research journey in 2015, my research topics included blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and gambling. It was only logical for me to start investigating the intersections between these topics, said study author Fred Steinmetz, co-founder of the non-profit Blockchain Research Lab and author of Blockchain and the Digital Economy: The Socio-Economic Impact of Blockchain Technology.

For his study, Steinmetz analyzed a representative sample of 3,864 Germans regarding their use of cryptocurrency and engagement in gambling over the past year. The data was collected in 2019.

The participants were categorized into four separate groups: there were 1,844 non-users (who neither gambled nor ever used cryptocurrency), there were 1,312 gamblers (who had gambled recently but never owned cryptocurrency), there were 708 crypto-users (who at some point owned cryptocurrency but had not gambled recently), and there were 435 crypto-gamblers (who at some point owned cryptocurrency and had also gambled recently).

Crypto-gamblers reported having significantly higher levels of knowledge about blockchain technology along with higher levels of trust in cryptocurrency. Crypto-gamblers were also much more likely, compared to regular crypto-users, to consider their ownership of cryptocurrency to be ideologically motivated.

Cryptocurrency is not only about trading alternative financial assets. In differentiation to, e.g. trading stocks, cryptocurrency users experience a different mental involvement, which relate to the narratives and ideologies which permeate the industry, Steinmetz told PsyPost. Cryptocurrency users with gambling affinity are more involved mentally, proactively and financially than non-gambling users.

In addition, crypto-gamblers tended to be younger, more likely to be male, better educated, and better off financially than non-gambling crypto-users. The profiles of crypto-gamblers resemble those of skill-based gamblers and stock traders but differ in terms of their average young age, Steinmetz wrote in his study.

The crypto-gamblers were further broken down into three distinct clusters. One cluster consisted of those with high ideological motivation and trust toward cryptocurrency and a moderate level of financial investment who used their cryptocurrency for the purpose of speculating relatively infrequently. The second cluster had high ideological motivation and trust, a high level of investment, and frequently engaged in cryptocurrency speculation. The third cluster consisted of crypto-gamblers with low ideological motivation and trust, low levels of investment, and low levels of cryptocurrency speculation.

Among crypto-users who also gamble, I identified a group which comprises the heavy users, who are highly engaged and potentially consider cryptocurrency and gambling substitutes, Steinmetz told PsyPost. The interrelations among the investigated variables suggest that high levels of mental involvement among crypto-users who also gamble induces higher engagement in terms of owning more cryptocurrencies and speculating more often.

The second cluster of heavy users accounted for a sizable share of crypto-gamblers. A ~35% share of heavy users among all cryptocurrency users who also gamble was not expected. This warrants further research on the domain, Steinmetz said.

The results suggest that rather than focusing solely on trading frequencies of cryptocurrency, researchers should broaden their scope by recognizing the importance of mental involvement of cryptocurrency users, e.g. trust-perceptions, proclaimed knowledge about cryptocurrency and ideological motivation, the researcher said.

The study, The interrelations of cryptocurrency and gambling: Results from a representative survey, was published online on August 22, 2022.

More here:
Cryptocurrency users with gambling affinity are more involved mentally and financially than non-gambling users - PsyPost

The Guardian view on the Rosetta Stone: a monument to code-breaking – The Guardian

This weeks 200th anniversary of the decoding of the Rosetta Stone is generating a rare level of patriotic excitement. A celebration is under way in Egypt, which has been petitioning for the return of the stone. A summer of love for its decoder, Jean-Franois Champollion, culminates in France this week with the opening of an exhibition at the Louvres satellite museum in Lens. Meanwhile, the British Museum where it has lain in state since docking on British shores is gearing up for its own blockbuster exhibition.

Yet the arrival of the very curious stone in the UK in 1802 warranted only the briefest of mentions in the London press, which reported that it was among a shipload of Egyptian antiquities collected by the French army that had become the property of the conquerors. These were spoils of a war, not against the Egyptians but against Napoleonic forces, signed over under the Treaty of Alexandria.

The stone had been discovered near the town of Rosetta, now Rashid, in the Nile delta just three years earlier. Of the three scripts with which it was inscribed Greek, Demotic and hieroglyphic only Greek was comprehensible; it would take another two decades for Champollion to have the eureka moment that would not only make the stone into one of the worlds most famous artefacts, but would add a new definition to the English language dictionary. Rosetta Stone: breakthrough or discovery that provides crucial knowledge for the solving of puzzles or problems.

In its metaphorical sense, the stone became a calling card for the science of code-breaking: and it is in this, rather than any quality intrinsic to the object itself, that its magic lies. Champollions decoding of a really rather dull decree by a council of priests, affirming the royal cult of the 13-year-old Ptolemy V, provided a key to the puzzle of hieroglyphics, and thereby opened out a whole new vista in the study of ancient Egyptian culture.

However, scientific breakthroughs are hardly ever the result of a single moment of inspiration, and Champollions was no exception. Several hieroglyphic characters had been identified by Arab scholars as far back as the 10th century. Meanwhile, Thomas Young, a doctor and physicist famously described as the last man who knew everything, worked out that sound played a role (alongside pictograms and idiograms), with a series of hieroglyphs sounding out the name Ptolemy. Though Youngs findings didnt go any further, he published them in the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1819, so they would have fed into the French scholars thinking.

Through LGBTQ+ tours, which are shortly to recommence, the British Museum also recently began to honour another contributor to the stones history: William John Bankes, a wealthy gay Egyptologist who installed an obelisk on his Dorset estate and was early to suggest that the three texts on the Rosetta Stone might all say the same thing.

The anniversary should not just be seen as the story of one brilliant code-breaker and a broken slab of granodiorite, but as a chance to celebrate the collaborative genius of cryptography itself across continents and centuries.

This article was amended on 3 October 2022. The third script inscribed on the stone is Demotic, not Coptic as stated in an earlier version.

Read more from the original source:
The Guardian view on the Rosetta Stone: a monument to code-breaking - The Guardian

Quantum Computing And The Threat Posed To Bitcoin – The Dales Report

WhenBitcoinBTC/USD-0.72%introduced a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending system in 2009 facilitated by its native token, the world was awe-inspired and suspicious over the merits of adecentralized financial system.

More than a decade later, BTC has not only emerged as the worlds largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization but has also spurred the adoption of blockchain technology across multiple industries. It has also spawned a number of applications, such as decentralized finance (DeFi), which are revolutionizing the way humans transact.

Yet, with the rise of a new breed ofquantum computers, the dominance of blockchain-powered protocols like that of Bitcoin could be challenged in the near future.

While traditional computers use bits to process and store information by switching between 0 and 1, quantum computers use qubits that can simultaneously exist in both states.

These computers can be millions of times faster than the best supercomputers today.

With this kind of computing supremacy, malicious entities could exploit the advantages of quantum computing to launch attacks onprotocols like Bitcoin, in an attempt to steal funds from the millions of cryptocurrency users that transact via the internet today.

By employing storage attacks or transit attacks, bad actors could attack vulnerable wallet addresses or even target transactions.

At the same time, they are being processed on the blockchain. Storage attacks are seemingly a bigger possibility since it is dependent on how securely tokens are being held by various users, while transit attacks are beyond the realm of a current lot of quantum computers in existence today.

Currently, Bitcoin and other blockchain protocols arent particularly susceptible to quantum computing attacks. Thats because quantum computers havent progressed beyond 100 qubits in terms of processing capacity. This limits the possibility of an attack on a protocol as large and secure as that of Bitcoin.

But technology is progressing at a rapid pace, and quantum computers with more than a million qubits could become a reality within the next decade.

With that kind of computing power, the Bitcoin network in its current form would be severely compromised by cybercriminals.

There are a number of projects that are working to tweak or introduce new architectures that would make protocols even more secure.

Indeed, blockchain technology is continuously evolving as developers and entrepreneurs strive to innovate.

Moving away from elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), which focuses on a set of public and private keys to encrypt data, will be one of the most immediate tasks at hand for crypto developers.

Recognizing the need for more robust and attack-proof solutions, a number of projects are exploring alternate cryptographic methods to secure the next generation of Bitcoin and other protocols.

Some notable examples of quantum-resistant technologies include:

Each of these methods has adopted different approaches to ensure that their respective networks can resist quantum computing attacks.

But the key message remains: the crypto developer community would be wise to prepare for any risks posed by quantum computing.

__________

This articlewasoriginally publishedon Benzinga and appears here with permission.

Link:
Quantum Computing And The Threat Posed To Bitcoin - The Dales Report

Cardano (ADA) and Algorand (ALGO) Are Two Blockchains To Watch Next Bull Cycle, Says Coin Bureau Here?… – The Daily Hodl

A popular crypto analyst thinks Cardano (ADA) and Algorand (ALGO) will be two blockchains to watch out for when the next bull market kicks off.

Pseudonymous Coin Bureau host Guy says in a new discussion with fellow crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen that both Ethereum (ETH) rivals have great teams behind them.

Long-term trend-wise, I think investors particularly institutional investors, which is obviously where Cardano is lacking in that respect but I think any investor will look at the likes of Ethereum and Cardano in the aftermath, when interest in crypto returns, and go, Well, these guys were able to execute these big upgrades, and they went flawlessly.

And I think that is a testament to the caliber of people working on those projects, and that I think will be a big part of peoples due diligence in the future. So although price hasnt done anything, I think its really, really positive, for Cardano especially.

ADA is trading for $0.43 at time of writing. The 8th-ranked crypto asset by market cap is down 0.72% in the past 24 hours.

Guy also notes that Algorands connections to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) could open up possibilities for the project. Algorands founder, Silvio Micali, is a professor of computer science and cryptography at the university.

The Algorand team is not only very capable, but it also seems sort of really well connected, because MIT, as I understand it, is supposedly collaborating with the Federal Reserve on this upcoming digital dollar, this CBDC [central bank digital currency]. And I think that kind of opens up a lot of potential questions around Algorand, because there has been a lot of speculation that Algorand could be the blockchain for a US CBDC to eventually run on.

ALGO is trading for $0.3573 at time of writing, a negative change of 1% in the past 24 hours.

News broke in February that the U.S. Federal Reserve and researchers at MIT are collaborating on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative called Project Hamilton.

I

Don't Miss a Beat Subscribe to get crypto email alerts delivered directly to your inbox Check Price ActionFollow us on Twitter, Facebook and TelegramSurf The Daily Hodl Mix

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Swill Klitch

Read more:
Cardano (ADA) and Algorand (ALGO) Are Two Blockchains To Watch Next Bull Cycle, Says Coin Bureau Here?... - The Daily Hodl

Still think everything is awful? Here are three reasons for hope – Colorado Newsline

This commentary originally appeared in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

Step away from Twitter. Stop doom-scrolling.

Yes, I know, American democracy is under assault. Russian President Vladimir Putin is muttering dark warnings about nuclear weapons in the face of heroic and historic resistance by Ukraine. Dozens of people are dead and large swaths of Florida have been devastated by Hurricane Ian. And Kanye West did something so uniformly awful in Paris that I was forced to Google the tone-deaf thing that Kanye West did in Paris.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

SUBSCRIBE

These are bleak times, indeed. And the urge to simply throw your hands up in the air and declare yourself quit of the whole business is overwhelming. Im right there with you.

But before you hit Amazon for the best deal on yurts and start Googling How to become a digital nomad, at least three things have happened in the last week that, if they do not fully restore your faith in humanity, will at least keep the flame alive.

On Tuesday, a trio of researchers were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for their experiments in quantum information science, which, according to the Washington Post, could revolutionize computing, cryptography, and information-transfer by a method called quantum teleportation.

The honors for John F. Clauser, 79, of Walnut Creek, Calif., Alain Aspect, 75, of Universit Paris-Saclay and cole Polytechnique in France, and Anton Zeilinger, 77, of the University of Vienna in Austria, came just a day after the Nobel committee honored another extraordinary accomplishment.

If we want to solve all those problems that have us doom-scrolling in the first place, we need to train and educate a generation of young people who can do that.

On Monday, Swedish scientist Svante Pbo took home the Nobel for medicine for sequencing the Neanderthal genome, helping to launch a new field of ancient DNA study, and, as an added bonus, helping scientists track genetic differences in modern humans and their role in disease including COVID-19, the New York Times reported.

And last week, NASA successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid, all in an effort to prove whether it was possible to defend our very fragile planet from interstellar threats, the Washington Post also reported.

By themselves, any one of these achievements represent a massive expansion of human knowledge and scientific achievement.

Taken together, however, theyre not only a trifecta of weapons-grade wonkishness, but also a welcome reminder of the liberating power of education in a year in which too many parents were working overtime to get Toni Morrisons books (also a Nobel winner) yanked from their kids school library.

Its been widely reported that the United States is in the midst of a historic teacher shortage, with educators fleeing the profession because of high demands and low pay, PTSD from the pandemic, and culture wars run amuck.

If were pressed, every one of us can point to a teacher who made a critical difference at a crucial moment, whether through a kind word, or extra help on a particularly challenging assignment. Other educators go even further, advocating for their students when theres no one else there to speak for them. Some, tragically, have even given their lives to keep our children safe.

So I cant help but wonder if were depriving ourselves of the next Svante Pbo or John F. Clauser when a gifted educator decides to leave the classroom in favor of a job that not only pays a livable wage, but also is 100-percent free of school board meetings that turn into political food fights.

If we want to solve all those problems that have us doom-scrolling in the first place, we need to train and educate a generation of young people (hopefully unencumbered by crippling student debt) who can do that. We have to ground them in fact, not conspiracy; wrap them in hope, not despair; and bequeath them welcoming unity, not endless division.

So take a moment, if you would, to celebrate and pay tribute to the transformative work of not only the Nobel-honored scientists, but all those, whose names we might never know, who are working every day to expand our knowledge and save lives.

And there, in the quiet, as you do that, Im betting that whatever despair youre feeling will give way to hope; to the spark that gives way to a flame, lighting the fire of knowledge that carries all of us forward.

And then, if you must, go back to doom-scrolling.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John Micek for questions: [emailprotected]. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.

See the rest here:
Still think everything is awful? Here are three reasons for hope - Colorado Newsline