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With the elections looming in America, the issue of the security of electronic voting is back in the news. Both major parties are making serious allegations that the election may well be rigged. Its outcome may even be determined by interference from a foreign government. This extraordinary movie-plot possibility is made plausible by the widespread use of Electronic Voting machines – which are based on computers which may be vulnerable to undetectable hacking.…

Here we attempt a simple explanation of the blockchain for a not overly technical audience. Download the Essence of the Blockchain PDF 1 Introduction The blockchain is a testament to the power of a single cryptographic primitive – the hash function. Really nothing else is required, so if you can get your head around the hash function, you can understand the basics of the blockchain. 2 The Hash Function A cryptographic hash function takes one input and calculates one output.…

We introduce a multi-lingual crypto library, specifically designed to support the Internet of Things. Download this paper on The Apache Milagro Crypto Library 1 Introduction There are many crypto libraries out there. Many offer a bewildering variety of cryptographic primitives, at different levels of security. Many use extensive assembly language in order to be as fast as possible. Many are very big, even bloated. Some rely on other external libraries. Many were designed by academics for academics, and so are not really suitable for commercial use.…

You are a programmer that uses the Internet a lot. You don’t want to be one of those unfortunates that gets their password hacked, due to some asshole’s failure to properly protect the password file on a remote server. You don’t want to change the world, you just want to work securely with the world as it is. You haven’t the patience for elaborate procedures. You don’t want it to cost you.…

In this article we describe our experience in implementing a high performance cryptographic library in multiple Computer Languages Download this paper on Another Computer Language Comparison 1 Introduction Most people have a favourite language they like to program in. Or they may have two or three on a horses-for-courses basis. Maybe they like one language for high level scripting, and another for low level stuff. Me I have always liked C and C++, and have many years experience using them.…

The Internet community is up in a heap about Username/Password, and what to replace it with. Here we try to shed a little light. Download paper and learn about the Authentication Dilemma What can Hackers actually do? They can by sneaky methods plant viruses on your computer and, to varying extents, take control of it. Often this is done by fooling you into opening an email attachment. Sometimes they can exploit bugs in the software to remotely break into your computer without any recourse to your foolishness.…

Johnny Carson as long time host of the Tonight show often appeared in the spoof role of Carnac the Magnificent, a mentalist who could magically read the contents of a sealed envelope. This is in fact a well known stock-in-trade trick of the mentalist’s craft, known as “billet reading”. Here we propose a cryptographic solution to the problem of billet reading, apparently allowing a ciphertext to be decrypted without direct knowledge of the ciphertext, and present both a compelling use case and a practical implementation.…

There are a variety of ways of applying the Karatsuba idea to multi-digit multiplication. These apply particularly well in the context where digits do not use the full word-length of the computer, so that partial products can be safely accumulated without fear of overflow. Here we re-visit the “arbitrary degree” version of Karatsuba and show that the cost of this little-known variant has been over-estimated in the past. We also attempt to definitively answer the question as to the cross-over point where Karatsuba performs better than the classic method.…

Apache Milagro (incubating) creates an alternative to outdated and problematic monolithic trust hierarchies, providing a more secure infrastructure that’s built for today’s internet VANCOUVER, BC – May 11, 2016 – Leading into one of The Apache Software Foundation’s largest developer events, ApacheCon North America, MIRACL, NTT Innovation Institute, Inc. (NTT i3) and NTT Labs join forces to contribute their security and authentication code to a new open­source project within the Apache Incubator called Apache Milagro (incubating).…

image source: Atomium Public Domain In about a decade (or so we are told) we may reach a tipping point in the world of cryptography, as a practical quantum computer will become a reality. Personally I think it will take longer than that, perhaps even a lot longer. Often the people who anticipate quantum computers in the shorter term are the very same people that are looking for funding to do quantum research.…

Repositioning reflects the growth in opportunities to advance Cloud Computing and move the Internet into the post-PKI era. London / Dublin / Tokyo. We are excited to announce today that CertiVox has changed its name to MIRACL. As CertiVox, we have grown from a small start-up to a respected organisation attracting five rounds of funding through investment partners in North America, Asia and Europe based on the strength of our products and the promise of providing more secure solutions to users, businesses, and the online services that connect the two.…

New research highlights attitudes to personal security on the Internet in the lead-up to online tax return self-assessment deadline at end of January. LONDON, 6 January 2016 – As ten million people prepare to complete their tax returns online in January, British citizens are being bombarded with scams. Forty per cent have received phishing emails which appeared to be from HMRC, and identity fraud is rife – with many people still unaware of the potential risks involved, according to new research from digital authentication provider, MIRACL.…