technology:cryptography

WireGuard : fast, modern, secure VPN tunnel
▻https://www.wireguard.com
Pour l’instant c’est en développement, there be dragons.

WireGuard® is an extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN that utilizes state-of-the-art cryptography. It aims to be faster, simpler, leaner, and more useful than IPsec, while avoiding the massive headache. It intends to be considerably more performant than OpenVPN. WireGuard is designed as a general purpose VPN for running on embedded interfaces and super computers alike, fit for many different circumstances. Initially released for the Linux kernel, it is now cross-platform (Windows, macOS, BSD, iOS, Android) and widely deployable. It is currently under heavy development, but already it might be regarded as the most secure, easiest to use, and simplest VPN solution in the industry.

Draft bill proposes 10-year prison term for dealing in cryptocurrency - Business News
▻https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/draft-bill-proposes-10-year-prison-term-for-dealing-in-cryptocurrency-154

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HIGHLIGHTS

A draft bill has proposed 10-year jail term for people dealing in cryptocurrencies in India
Besides making it completely illegal, the bill makes holding of cryptos a non-bailable offence
A cryptocurrency is a virtual currency that uses cryptography for security and is generally based on blockchain technology

Holding, selling or dealing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin could soon land you in jail for 10 years.

The “Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019” draft has proposed 10-year prison sentence for persons who "mine, generate, hold, sell, transfer, dispose, issue or deal in cryptocurrencies.

Besides making it completely illegal, the bill makes holding of cryptos a non-bailable offence.

A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security and is generally based on blockchain technology, a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers. Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency in the world.

Given the high chances of cryptocurrencies being misused for money laundering, various government bodies such as the Income Tax Department and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) had endorsed banning of cryptocurrencies.

The draft bill for banning cryptocurrency has been in the works for some time with Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg leading the exercise.
While strict law would soon be in place to deal with people indulging in trade of cryptocurrency, India is likely to have its own digital currency.

“A decision on the launch of Digital Rupee would be taken after consulting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI),” said an official.

#Monnaie_numérique #Cryptomonnaie #Bitcoin #Inde

What Does #decentralization Mean for Your Business?
▻https://hackernoon.com/what-does-decentralization-mean-for-your-business-7d06c9e30c5?source=rss

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How Decentralization Can Benefit Your Business: Evaluating #bitcoin, #hyperledger, Algorand, and Elixxir▻https://www.gtis.co.za/news/online-collectables/decentralization-2-0/Centralized services like Facebook, Microsoft, and Yahoo keep all your eggs in one basket. This means that bad actors only need to attack one weak link to compromise all your data. And there are many ways to do it, including DDoS, Man-in-the-Middle, and credential stealing to name a few. Decentralized services keep your data safe and secure by distributing it across many redundant servers with cutting-edge cryptography that ensures your data is complete, immutable, and incorruptible. Of course, there are many degrees of decentralization. In this article, we explore the varieties of decentralization, their history and (...)

#cryptocurrency #consensus

A Guide to Post-Quantum #cryptography
▻https://hackernoon.com/a-guide-to-post-quantum-cryptography-d785a70ea04b?source=rss----3a8144ea

This article was written by Ben Perez and originally appeared on the Trail of Bits Blog. It is being republished with permission of the author and includes additional notes & comments from researchers at the RI lab.For many high-assurance applications such as TLS traffic, medical databases, and blockchains, forward secrecy is absolutely essential. It is not sufficient to prevent an attacker from immediately decrypting sensitive information. Here the threat model encompasses situations where the adversary may dedicate many years to the decryption of ciphertexts after their collection. One potential way forward secrecy might be broken is that a combination of increased computing power and number-theoretic breakthroughs make attacking current cryptography tractable. However, unless (...)

#security #quantum-cryptography #quantum-computing #post-quantum-cryptography

How Can #blockchain Improve the Conditions for Gamers and Game Developers Alike?
▻https://hackernoon.com/how-can-blockchain-improve-the-conditions-for-gamers-and-game-developers

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The 21st century has kicked off the era of blockchain #technology. In comparison with other innovations, its development has not taken all that much time . Its implementation is skyrocketing in a variety of areas.In the #gaming industry, blockchain is quickly gaining momentum. How it can help modern gamers?A blockchain is a constantly growing list of transactions linked together securely using cryptography. It ensures the safety of storage, access, and dispersal of information. Being inserted in an intriguing game with a happening community, this technology can unite an experience into a more satisfying connected overall whole, which can deliver money both to players and developers alike.Why is blockchain a safe solution?Blockchain in gaming helps in securely buying and selling in-game (...)

#ico #game-developer

#zcoin’s new anonymous payment system, Lelantus
▻https://hackernoon.com/zcoins-new-anonymous-payment-system-lelantus-23b27a450a9?source=rss----3

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This is a summary of Lelantus, the anonymous payment system coming up as a replacement of Zcoin’s current protocol Zerocoin. Lelantus hides transaction amounts and participants without a trusted setup and relies on simpler cryptographic primitives compared to something like Zcash. It also removed the need for spending or creating fixed denomination coins present in the current Zerocoin protocol and the need for RSA accumulators corresponding to each denomination.The basic idea in Lelantus is similar to Monero (and some others) where the spender while spending a coin hides “his” coin among a set of coins (not necessarily “owned” by him) and proves to the ledger (blockchain) that he “owns” a coin in this set and the coin has not been spent yet. This set of coins is called the anonymity set for (...)

#cryptography #cryptocurrency #zero-knowledge-proofs #crypto

How I finally started learning new things like #cryptography
▻https://hackernoon.com/learning-new-things-like-cryptography-ebabc87c8b8?source=rss----3a8144ea

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My experience taking the course Cryptography I by Stanford as offered by Coursera.The first rule of cryptography is never to implement one yourself. “It’s going to get crushed to dust by anyone who knows what they’re doing”mithi/simple-cryptographyLife as I’ve known itI do believe that everyone deep down at one point in their lives has thought that Cryptography — the art of writing and solving codes — is fascinating and considered learning more about it. People want to keep secrets safe, and people want to know the secrets of others.When I was a young child, as a game, my friends and I used to make “cipher algorithms”. These were basically just substitution ciphers with a few complicated but totally useless rules added. It’s embarrassing and quite frankly stupid, but I guess we had fun like with most (...)

#programming #security #python #tech

The Quantum Computer: Annihilator of Contemporary #blockchain Technology
▻https://hackernoon.com/the-quantum-computer-annihilator-of-contemporary-blockchain-technology-4

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With the popularity of cryptocurrencies on the rise, specialists in the area worry about how, when it comes about, quantum computers will threaten blockchain technology, which at the moment still lacks reliable data security.Photo by Pawel Janiak on UnsplashLooming ThreatsQuantum computers are our future, not just with #cryptocurrency but in all areas of life, though the fear that they could — in the realm where they are seen as being of most use at the moment — crack the cryptography which blockchains use for security.The threat is a real one.However, some scientists believe the only way to counter this is to use quantum blockchains as a wall against the threat.A simple case of ‘like for like’.Like Sheep in the BrainSource: Wooden Poster — Do Androids Dream of Electric SheepMy whole interest in (...)

#life-lessons #science #quantum-computing

#security, Obscurity, Openness
▻https://hackernoon.com/security-obscurity-openness-55c14f7e9cc1?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3---4

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And making open source alternatives — #DevStoriesThis is a transcript of a talk I gave at the Hacker Noon #devstories @Github event, with minor modifications to improve readability. I wanted to call out the irony that security calls for openness, but security is also the reason for obscurity and proprietary implementations, especially in the hardware world. Making security more open is what motivated us to found SoloKeys, and make open source hardware security keys.▻https://medium.com/media/6a0e0d8f7709f7937cc7221c95a19eaa/hrefWhat I think is really fascinating about security is the duality that I tried to capture in the title between openness and obscurity.Borrowing a definition from cryptography:A (crypto)system should be secure even if everything about the system, except the key, is (...)

#open-source #developer #authentication #hackernoon-top-story

Cryptographic essence of #bitcoin: Part 2 — How do public/private keys work?,
▻https://hackernoon.com/cryptographic-essence-of-bitcoin-part-2-how-do-public-private-keys-work-

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Cryptographic essence of Bitcoin: Part 2 — How do public/private keys work?, Elliptical #cryptography & Proof of workLet’s find out how to create a Bitcoin AddressElliptic Curves CryptographyElliptic curve cryptography (ECC) is an approach to public-key cryptography (watch video) based on the algebraic structure of elliptic curves over finite fields.The elliptic curve below is an example of an elliptic curve, similar to that used by bitcoin.Example of an EllipticCurveThe elliptic curve technique is used to create the public key derived from the private key.How does it work:Starting with a private key in the form of a randomly generated number k, we multiply it by a predetermined point on the curve called the generator point G to produce another point somewhere else on the curve, which is the (...)

#finance #cryptocurrency #blockchain

#ethereum Support for ZK-SNARKs
▻https://hackernoon.com/ethereum-support-for-zk-snarks-ce103bd6ac89?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3--

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ZK-SNARKsThe ZK-SNARKS series continues with another article from our #blockchain expert, Alexandre. We wish you all a Happy Friday!I have the rare privilege of being able to do research at work. Since my working life was half industry and half academy, I relish the opportunity to join both in the same day job. There are the drive and urgency of writing production code, but also the excitement and uncertainty of not knowing if something will work.In many ways, research is like an adventure: you have a more or less defined goal, and possibly several ways to reach it. You go down one path, battle your obstacles or find clever ways to avoid them until you reach an insurmountable wall. You go back, repeat and repeat again until you quit or achieve your Grail.For the last couple of months or (...)

#technology #cryptography #zksnark

A Must-Know Crypto Investment Glossary Recommended by Ray Dalio
▻https://hackernoon.com/a-must-know-crypto-investment-glossary-recommended-by-ray-dalio-b9076b98

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Designed by LUKRUMAs a new investor in the growing #cryptocurrency sector, you might feel overwhelmed by the terminology you’ve encountered exploring the market and chatting on forums. In order to help familiarize yourself with crypto colloquialisms, LUKRUM has provided you with an essential glossary of terms that will enable you to get a basic grasp on investing in digital currencies.BlockchainA linked list of modification-resistant blocks of data. Cryptocurrency transactions are publicly recorded in chronological order on the #blockchain using cryptography.BitcoinBitcoin (BTC) is a digital, peer-to-peer currency that exists without the need for a central bank or intermediary.AltcoinAny cryptocurrency model other than Bitcoin can correctly be called an altcoin.EthereumUnlike Bitcoin, (...)

#cryptocurrency-investment #ethereum #eos

5 Beneficial Qualities That Increased the Adoption Rate of #cryptocurrency And the #blockchain…
▻https://hackernoon.com/5-beneficial-qualities-that-increased-the-adoption-rate-of-cryptocurrenc

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5 Beneficial Qualities That Could Increase the Adoption Rate of Cryptocurrency And BlockchainAre you bothered having a third party involved in your monetary transactions? Do you feel unsecured, thinking you could lose your funds anytime? If yes, why not try cryptocurrency?Cryptocurrency is a digital currency based on a cryptographic system;Cryptography is the discipline concerned with communication security, for example, confidentiality of messages, sender verification and non-repudiation of messages regardless of the medium used.It is simply a digital framework built to serve as a medium of exchange and it uses strong communication security to protect financial transactions, control creation of additional units and verify transfer of assets.Bitcoin was the first released open-source (...)

#technology #small-scale-business #bitcoin

Cryptographic essence of #bitcoin part # 1: What is a Hash function?
▻https://hackernoon.com/cryptographic-essence-of-bitcoin-part-1-what-is-a-hash-function-f468e7f7

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What is a Hash?Cryptographic hash functions are mathematical operations run on digital data. In Bitcoin, all the operations use SHA256 as the underlying cryptographic hash function.SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm) is a set of cryptographic hash functions designed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA).To put it in simple term, a Hash function is like a black box, where you input any kind of digital information of any size, and the result (output) is an alphanumeric string (e.g.: 0xe3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855). In the case of SHA-256, the output is 32 bytes. This function has 2 characteristics:1) Unequivocal: the hash (output) is like the fingerprint of the input data. From a human fingerprint, you can´t create the human. So from the hash of a (...)

#cryptocurrency #cryptography #hashing #blockchain

The Many Uses of #blockchain Technologies in #business
▻https://hackernoon.com/the-many-uses-of-blockchain-technologies-in-business-c7eb5612bebc?source

Whether you are aware of it or not, you conduct business every day, even if you don’t work. At some point, everyone gets online and initiates some kind of transaction. Whether it is purchasing something from Amazon or buying something from iTunes, you are engaging in the business of blockchain technology.Even though the term “blockchain” is relatively new, the technology has been around for about a decade. The digitized ledger that Satoshi Nakamoto created in 2008 was the basis for the spreadsheets that manage cryptocurrencies and other online trading transactions. The technology is used in cryptography, which is how text is coded on the Internet.Cryptography is used in blockchain technology to create distributed trust networks. This, in turn, allows any contributor to the system to (...)

#blockchain-business #many-uses #blockchain-technology

Public Key #cryptography Simply Explained
▻https://hackernoon.com/public-key-cryptography-simply-explained-e932e3093046?source=rss----3a81

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Photo by Liam Macleod on UnsplashPublic key cryptography seems magical to everyone, even those who understand it. In this post, I’m going to explain public key cryptography. Public Key Cryptography is based on asymmetric cryptography, so first let us talk about symmetric cryptography.▻https://medium.com/media/c28f9fc84629b8f11d5c569ae4d99c81/hrefSymmetric CryptographyYour front door is usually locked by a key. This key unlocks & locks your front door. With symmetric cryptography, you have one key which you use to unlock and lock things.Only people with the key or a copy of the key can unlock the door. Now, imagine you’re on holiday in Bali. You want to invite your friend around to look after your cat ? while you’re on the beautiful beaches ?️.Before the holiday, you give your friend the (...)

#hacking #security #programming #computer-science

Unveiling #blockchain’s full Potential
▻https://hackernoon.com/unveiling-blockchains-full-potential-784519610708?source=rss----3a8144ea

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Unveiling Blockchain’s full Potential — A new Era of Internet Protocols and ApplicationsWhat you can expect from the read:Introduction to cryptoeconomic mechanism design, a new art of designing protocols next to cryptography or machine learning, including what it is and what is the rationality, and how you can leverage it in your own applications and protocolsA discussion why Blockchain is the missing technological piece to harness cryptoeconomic mechanisms in Internet applications and servicesTwo example HTTP protocols showcasing the power and practicabilitySummary of future emerging killer applications resulting from the application of cryptoeconomicscourtesy of Kristina FlourCryptoeconomic mechanism designing is the true ingenuity of Blockchain. In this article we explore the (...)

#cryptoeconomics #future-internet #mechanism-design #technology

#cryptocurrency: What is and What Could Have Been
▻https://hackernoon.com/cryptocurrency-what-is-and-what-could-have-been-8d77b5df2cd3?source=rss-

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Photo by Sandro Katalina on UnsplashDespite what the popular media may report, cryptocurrency didn’t start with #bitcoin. On the contrary, the concept of anonymous digital cash goes back to the 80s! Not only is anonymous digital cash an ancient idea in tech years, but its original conception was far different from what we accept today as cryptocurrency.A quick note: I’ll refer to anonymous digital cash as “bitcash” from here on, to avoid repetition.Now, let’s dive in!Devised in 1982 by that great wizardly guru of cryptography, David Chaum, bitcash was a groundbreaking achievement. In the same paper that discussed the potential of an anonymous digital future, Chaum devised “blind signatures”, the basis of the entire system. A blind signature is when someone signs some piece of content, ensuring (...)

#crypto-could-have-been #what-is-cryptocurrency #anonymity

Zero-Knowledge Proofs: A Layman’s Introduction
▻https://hackernoon.com/zero-knowledge-proofs-a-laymans-introduction-e9c1f50208e8?source=rss----

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Alex has dedicated more of his time to create an article where he is giving an introduction to what ZK-SNARKs are. We encourage you to have a read and leave a comment if you find it useful.For the past months, I’ve been immersed daily in a thrilling and cutting-edge world: that of Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs. It is a challenging field, and because of that, one I explore with great enjoyment.Today, I will talk a bit more about this quest of mine. The end goal is to implement a practical prototype that Artos (my employer) can use in their ticketing solutions for the Aventus protocol. I am not concerned with the final usage, for now, only with the ZK technology itself: what it is, what we can do with it and some of the tools available out there.Zero-Knowledge ProofsIn my experience, people (...)

#cryptography #zksnark #coding #zcash #blockchain

Quantum Computing — Can Blockchain be Hacked?
▻https://hackernoon.com/quantum-computing-can-blockchain-be-hacked-19c2ec7bac85?source=rss----3a

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Quantum Computing — Can Blockchain be Hacked?“Cryptography is the field concerned with linguistic and mathematical techniques for securing information, particularly in communications” and the security characteristic of Distributed Ledger Technology. Quantum computers have long been dubbed as the Achilles’ heel of Bitcoin and the whole cryptocurrency industry. Due to their overwhelming advantage in computing speed, quantum computers could theoretically be used to disrupt the activity not only of a decentralized system or a blockchain but of any software using any kind of encryption.In Germany, you probably call that ‘Bauernfänger’ (since in Germany we have a single word for almost everything), in English perhaps ‘hornswoggle people’s attention by plotting an attention-grabbing headline’ or (...)

#distributed-ledgers #legacy-systems #quantum-computing #quantum-computer #quantum-computing-hacks

Understanding The Elusive #blockchain Technology — Part 1
▻https://hackernoon.com/understanding-the-elusive-blockchain-technology-part-1-1172fd8d02c2?sour

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Understanding The Elusive Blockchain Technology — Part 1@clintadairDespite the popular notion, Blockchains are not that complex once you get the general idea behind them.What makes Blockchain so interestingly difficult to implement is that it is made up of some many different components of varying complexity and a good Blockchain developer needs to know how to connect these components in the right order to build good Blockchains.In this post, I will explain what a Blockchain actually is, then start talking about various features of Blockchain such as Hashing, Immutability, and Distributed P2P Network.This is Part 1 of 2 of my series on Blockchain. Part 2 will be out soon!Defining BlockchainThe credit for inventing Blockchain technology is generally given to an anonymous entity (could be one (...)

#crypto #cryptocurrency #cryptography #blockchain-technology

Whitfield Diffie on the History of #cryptography
▻https://hackernoon.com/whitfield-diffie-on-the-history-of-cryptography-cae4d2469268?source=rss-

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Audio interview transcription — WBD069Note: the following is a transcription of my interview with Whitfield Diffie. I use Rev.com from translations and they remove ums, errs and half sentences. I have reviewed the transcription but if you find any mistakes, please feel free to email me. You can listen to the original recording here.You can subscribe to the podcast and listen to all episodes here.In this episode, I talk with legend of cryptography, Whitfield Diffie. Whit was working on cryptography long before #bitcoin existed, building the foundations for which Bitcoin relies upon. We discuss his history, Bitcoin and his views on privacy.▻https://medium.com/media/b36e9c77d8b36d44f94deccbd50dd50e/hrefConnect with What Bitcoin Did:Listen: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | (...)

#tech

Generating #rsa Private and Public Keys
▻https://hackernoon.com/generating-rsa-private-and-public-keys-b82a06db6d1c?source=rss----3a8144

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We use SSH, HTTPS, etc., on a daily basis. These programs depend on RSA asymmetric key encryption and decryption for providing #security.Asymmetric key encryption involves two keys, public key and private key. Public key is used for encrypting the message and Private key is used for decrypting the message.In this post, we will look into how a public key and private key pair are generated using simple mathematics.We will use small numbers for simplicity.Public Key ( e, n )Public key is made up of two numbers called e and n.Generation of nGenerate two prime numbers.Prime number 1, p = 7Prime number 2, q = 17n = p x qn = 7 x 17 = 119Thus n = 119Generation of eCompute totient of n, ϕ(n) = ( p -1) x (q -1)Choose a random prime number that has a greatest common divisor (gcd) of 1 with ϕ(n)ϕ(n) = ( 7 — 1 (...)

#public-key-cryptography #cryptography #public-key

Conditional payments on “Bitcoin” using Discreet Log Contracts
▻https://hackernoon.com/conditional-payments-on-bitcoin-using-discreet-log-contracts-eed19e086e3

Conditional Payments on #bitcoin using Discreet Log ContractsDiscreet log contract is a conditional payment mechanism invented by Tadge Dryja, co-author of the Bitcoin Lightning Network paper and a member of MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative team. The paper was written in 2017.OverviewCurrently conditional payments on blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum are done through “smart contracts” where the conditions are coded in limiting language like Bitcoin’s Script or a turing complete language like Solidity and this code is deployed on chain. The chain will later execute this code along with other inputs provided and then transfer the funds to one of the participants. This requires the chain to know the conditions, hence anyone in the world can learn the conditions. Also the chain has to (...)

#crypto #cryptocurrency #cryptography #conditional-payments

Asymmetric #cryptography In Blockchains
▻https://hackernoon.com/asymmetric-cryptography-in-blockchains-d1a4c1654a71?source=rss----3a8144

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Asymmetric cryptography, also known as public-key cryptography, is one of the key components of #blockchain technology. This form of cryptography allows everyone to verify the integrity of transactions, protect funds from hackers and much more. But how does it work?What is asymmetric cryptography?To understand asymmetric cryptography it is important to first understand the meaning of cryptography.Cryptography is a method of using advanced mathematical principles in storing and transmitting data in a particular form so that only those for whom it is intended can read and process it. Encryption is a key concept in cryptography — It is a process whereby a message is encoded in a format that cannot be read or understood by an eavesdropper. The technique is old and was first used by Caesar to (...)

#crypto #cryptocurrency #security