Quantum computers are probably coming, though we don’t know when—and when they arrive, they will, most likely, be able to break our standard public-key cryptography algorithms. In anticipation of...
Read moreNew Lattice Cryptanalytic Technique
April 15 2024A new paper presents a polynomial-time quantum algorithm for solving certain hard lattice problems. This could be a big deal for post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, since many of them...
Read moreIn Memoriam: Ross Anderson, 1956–2024
April 10 2024Last week, I posted a short memorial of Ross Anderson. The Communications of the ACM asked me to expand it. Here’s the longer version. EDITED TO ADD (4/11): Two weeks...
Read moreRoss Anderson
April 1 2024Ross Anderson unexpectedly passed away Thursday night in, I believe, his home in Cambridge.
I can’t remember when I first met Ross. Of course it was before 2008,...
Read moreImproving the Cryptanalysis of Lattice-Based Public-Key Algorithms
February 14 2024The winner of the Best Paper Award at Crypto this year was a significant improvement to lattice-based cryptanalysis. This is important, because a bunch of NIST’s post-quantum options base their...
Read moreNew Images of Colossus Released
January 31 2024GCHQ has released new images of the WWII Colossus code-breaking computer, celebrating the machine’s eightieth anniversary (birthday?). News article.
Read moreImproving Shor’s Algorithm
January 5 2024We don’t have a useful quantum computer yet, but we do have quantum algorithms. Shor’s algorithm has the potential to factor large numbers faster than otherwise possible, which—if the...
Read moreNew SSH Vulnerability
November 16 2023This is interesting:
For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that a large portion of cryptographic keys used to protect data in computer-to-server SSH traffic are vulnerable to complete...
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New Revelations from the Snowden Documents
September 21 2023Jake Appelbaum’s PhD thesis contains several new revelations from the classified NSA documents provided to journalists by Edward Snowden. Nothing major, but a few more tidbits. Kind of amazing that...
Read moreSmart light bulbs could give away your password secrets
August 23 2023Cryptography isn't just about secrecy. You need to take care of authenticity (no imposters!) and integrity (no tampering!) as well.
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