Nathan Eddy works as an independent filmmaker and journalist based in Berlin, specializing in architecture, business technology and healthcare IT. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. For thousands of years, if you wanted to send a secret message, there was basically one way to do it. You’d scramble the message using a ...

In the context of cryptography, a public key is an alphanumeric string that serves as an essential component of asymmetric encryption algorithms. It is typically derived from a private key, which must ...

For thousands of years, if you wanted to send a secret message, there was basically one way to do it. You’d scramble the message using a special rule, known only to you and your intended audience.

Eve can, for example, intercept transmission of a public encryption key from Bob (receiver) to Alice (sender), and substitute a key of her own devising. If she then intercepts messages encrypted by ...

One of the biggest misconceptions about public key infrastructure (PKI) is that it requires public trust and infrastructure. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Organizations that overlook or ...

Public-key cryptography (PKC, or asymmetric cryptography) had a revolutionary effect on the theory of cryptography. PKC’s use of pure mathematical hard problems led to a study of academic, theoretical ...

As a Bitcoiner, you’re going to need a secure way to communicate privately, without relying on a company to encrypt your data for you. For example, freely available methods with end-to-end encryption ...

If you’ve read anything about technology in the last few years, you may have seen the term “encryption” floating around. It’s a simple concept, but the realities of its use are enormously complicated.