|
Verifiable Random Function
In cryptography, a verifiable random function (VRF) is a public-key pseudorandom function that provides proofs that its outputs were calculated correctly. The owner of the secret key can compute the function value as well as an associated proof for any input value. Everyone else, using the proof and the associated public key (or ''verification key''), can check that this value was indeed calculated correctly, yet this information cannot be used to find the secret key. A verifiable random function can be viewed as a public-key analogue of a keyed cryptographic hash and as a cryptographic commitment to an exponentially large number of seemingly random bits. The concept of a verifiable random function is closely related to that of a verifiable unpredictable function (VUF), whose outputs are hard to predict but do not necessarily seem random. The concept of a VRF was introduced by Micali, Rabin, and Vadhan in 1999. Since then, verifiable random functions have found widespread use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptography
Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More generally, cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the public from reading private messages. Modern cryptography exists at the intersection of the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, information security, electrical engineering, digital signal processing, physics, and others. Core concepts related to information security ( data confidentiality, data integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation) are also central to cryptography. Practical applications of cryptography include electronic commerce, chip-based payment cards, digital currencies, computer passwords, and military communications. Cryptography prior to the modern age was effectively synonymo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-interactive Zero-knowledge Proof
Non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs are zero-knowledge proofs where information between a prover and a verifier can be authenticated by the prover, without revealing any of the specific information beyond the validity of the transaction itself. This function of encryption makes direct communication between the prover and verifier unnecessary, effectively removing any intermediaries. The core trustless cryptography "proofing" involves a hash function generation of a random number, constrained within mathematical parameters (primarily to modulate hashing difficulties) determined by the prover and verifier. With this cryptographic engine, the prover must demonstrate the validity of the transaction, by solving the hash of a random number. Finally, proof of the answer is returned to the verifier, without revealing its value. There are many different methods for establishing a cryptographic proof of hash validity. Perhaps the most notable method, proof of work, involves computing the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Threshold Cryptosystem
A threshold cryptosystem, the basis for the field of threshold cryptography, is a cryptosystem that protects information by encrypting it and distributing it among a cluster of fault-tolerant computers. The message is encrypted using a public key, and the corresponding private key is shared among the participating parties. With a threshold cryptosystem, in order to decrypt an encrypted message or to sign a message, several parties (more than some threshold number) must cooperate in the decryption or signature protocol. History Perhaps the first system with complete threshold properties for a trapdoor function (such as RSA) and a proof of security was published in 1994 by Alfredo De Santis, Yvo Desmedt, Yair Frankel, and Moti Yung. Historically, only organizations with very valuable secrets, such as certificate authorities, the military, and governments made use of this technology. One of the earliest implementations was done in the 1990s by Certco for the planned deployment o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internet Computer
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing. The origins of the Internet date back to the development of packet switching and research commissioned by the United States Department of Defense in the 1960s to enable time-sharing of computers. The primary precursor network, the ARPANET, initially served as a backbone for interconnection of regional academic and military networks in the 1970s to enable resource sharing. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polkadot (cryptocurrency)
Polkadot is a blockchain platform and cryptocurrency. It is designed to allow blockchains to exchange messages and perform transactions with each other without a trusted third-party. This allows for cross-chain transfers of data or assets, between different blockchains, and for decentralized applications to be built using the Polkadot Network. The Polkadot network has a primary blockchain named "relay chain" and many user-created parallel chains called "parachains". The relay chain acts as the governance layer of the network, while parachains are auctioned, enabling independent projects to create and operate their own blockchains that live within the Polkadot infrastructure. The protocol was created by the Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, and raised over $144.3 million in its Initial coin offering in October 2017. The network uses a proof of stake consensus algorithm. The protocol used, Blind Assignment for Blockchain Extension (BABE), is derived from Ouroboros. The protocol was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardano (blockchain Platform)
Cardano is a public blockchain platform. It is open-source and decentralized, with consensus achieved using proof of stake. It can facilitate peer-to-peer transactions with its internal cryptocurrency, ADA. Cardano's development began in 2015, led by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson. The project is overseen and supervized by the Cardano Foundation based in Zug, Switzerland. When launched in 2017, it was the largest cryptocurrency to use a proof-of-stake blockchain, which is seen as a greener alternative to proof-of-work protocols. Background Charles Hoskinson and Jeremy Wood set out their plans for Cardano in 2015, with the platform launching in 2017. Hoskinson had left Ethereum after a dispute with another co-founder, Vitalik Buterin. Hoskinson wanted to accept venture capital and create a company, while Buterin wanted to keep it as a nonprofit organization. After leaving, Hoskinson co-founded IOHK, a blockchain-engineering company, whose primary business is the develop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the associated entities. Most prominently, it translates readily memorized domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for locating and identifying computer services and devices with the underlying network protocols. The Domain Name System has been an essential component of the functionality of the Internet since 1985. The Domain Name System delegates the responsibility of assigning domain names and mapping those names to Internet resources by designating authoritative name servers for each domain. Network administrators may delegate authority over sub-domains of their allocated name space to other name servers. This mechanism provides distributed and fault tolerance, fault-tolerant service and was designed to avoid a single ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Random Oracle
In cryptography, a random oracle is an oracle (a theoretical black box) that responds to every ''unique query'' with a (truly) random response chosen uniformly from its output domain. If a query is repeated, it responds the same way every time that query is submitted. Stated differently, a random oracle is a mathematical function chosen uniformly at random, that is, a function mapping each possible query to a (fixed) random response from its output domain. Random oracles as a mathematical abstraction were first used in rigorous cryptographic proofs in the 1993 publication by Mihir Bellare and Phillip Rogaway (1993). They are typically used when the proof cannot be carried out using weaker assumptions on the cryptographic hash function. A system that is proven secure when every hash function is replaced by a random oracle is described as being secure in the random oracle model, as opposed to secure in the standard model of cryptography. Applications Random oracles are typicall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zero-knowledge Proofs
In cryptography, a zero-knowledge proof or zero-knowledge protocol is a method by which one party (the prover) can prove to another party (the verifier) that a given statement is true while the prover avoids conveying any additional information apart from the fact that the statement is indeed true. The essence of zero-knowledge proofs is that it is trivial to prove that one possesses knowledge of certain information by simply revealing it; the challenge is to prove such possession without revealing the information itself or any additional information. If proving a statement requires that the prover possess some secret information, then the verifier will not be able to prove the statement to anyone else without possessing the secret information. The statement being proved must include the assertion that the prover has such knowledge, but without including or transmitting the knowledge itself in the assertion. Otherwise, the statement would not be proved in zero-knowledge because it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dictionary Attack
In cryptanalysis and computer security, a dictionary attack is an attack using a restricted subset of a keyspace to defeat a cipher or authentication mechanism by trying to determine its decryption key or passphrase, sometimes trying thousands or millions of likely possibilities often obtained from lists of past security breaches. Technique A dictionary attack is based on trying all the strings in a pre-arranged listing. Such attacks originally used words found in a dictionary (hence the phrase ''dictionary attack''); however, now there are much larger lists available on the open Internet containing hundreds of millions of passwords recovered from past data breaches. There is also cracking software that can use such lists and produce common variations, such as substituting numbers for similar-looking letters. A dictionary attack tries only those possibilities which are deemed most likely to succeed. Dictionary attacks often succeed because many people have a tendency to choose sho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preimage Attack
In cryptography, a preimage attack on cryptographic hash functions tries to find a message that has a specific hash value. A cryptographic hash function should resist attacks on its preimage (set of possible inputs). In the context of attack, there are two types of preimage resistance: * ''preimage resistance'': for essentially all pre-specified outputs, it is computationally infeasible to find any input that hashes to that output; i.e., given , it is difficult to find an such that . * ''second-preimage resistance'': for a specified input, it is computationally infeasible to find another input which produces the same output; i.e., given , it is difficult to find a second input such that . These can be compared with a collision resistance, in which it is computationally infeasible to find any two distinct inputs , that hash to the same output; i.e., such that . Collision resistance implies second-preimage resistance, but does not guarantee preimage resistance. Conversely, a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
