The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has selected four quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms for general encryption and digital signatures. NIST ...

Proof-of-work (PoW), or Nakamoto consensus, is a decentralized consensus mechanism that secures a blockchain by requiring nodes to expend energy and compete against each other to solve complex ...

Before we move into the meat of this article, let’s define a couple terms related to cryptography. The syllable crypt may make you think of tombs, but it comes from a Greek word that means “hidden” or ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. In our increasingly digital lives, security depends on cryptography. Send a private message or pay a bill online, and you’re relying on ...

Members can download this article in PDF format. In our day-to-day lives, the use of cryptography is everywhere. For example, we use it to securely send passwords over vast networks for online ...

Author Nick Sullivan worked for six years at Apple on many of its most important cryptography efforts before recently joining CloudFlare, where he is a systems engineer. He has a degree in mathematics ...