Network TodayNetwork Today
    What's Hot

    No more business as usual: the case for carbon pricing

    December 3, 2023

    Explosion at a Catholic Mass in the Philippines Kills at Least 4 and Injures Dozens

    December 3, 2023

    DeSantis says conservatives won’t be ‘gaslit’ by ‘people who think we’re dumb’ after Newsom debate

    December 3, 2023
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Contact
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Sunday, December 3
    Network TodayNetwork Today
    • Home
    • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Energy
    • Technology
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Sports
    Network TodayNetwork Today
    Home » Math That Helped Solve Fermat’s Theorem Now Safeguards the Digital World

    Math That Helped Solve Fermat’s Theorem Now Safeguards the Digital World

    February 1, 20223 Mins Read Technology
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr WhatsApp Email Reddit
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Defenses against digital snoopers keep getting stronger. Encryption is what keeps communications safe when you use Signal and other messaging apps, make online financial transactions, buy and sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and trust that private information in your Apple iPhone will stay private.

    While a variety of end-to-end encryption techniques seek to protect the flows of information from spies and eavesdroppers, one of the most powerful and ubiquitous is elliptic curve cryptography, invented in 1985. The method’s underlying math helped solve the famous riddle of Fermat’s last theorem and was promoted by the charitable foundation of James M. Vaughn Jr., an heir to oil riches. In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Vaughn funded experts who pursued knotty questions of mathematics that were assumed to have no practical value.

    Mr. Vaughn’s funding of Fermat studies backed the investigation of elliptic curves as a possible solution. The obscure branch of mathematics turned out to beget a new generation of powerful ciphers — in particular, elliptic curve cryptography.

    In his 2009 autobiography, “Random Curves,” Neal I. Koblitz, a University of Washington mathematician who aided Mr. Vaughn and was one of two inventors of the technique, described its “biggest friend” as the National Security Agency. An arm of the Pentagon, the N.S.A. works to strip governments of their secrets while concealing its own. It relies heavily on elliptic curve cryptography.

    In an interview, Mr. Vaughn said N.S.A. officials sent math experts to the conferences he sponsored. “They always had people there,” he recalled.

    Of course, digital thieves are trying to undo the decades of encryption strides with new kinds of spyware and cyberweapons. Public encryption has become so powerful that the hackers often try to seize control of smartphones and steal their data before it’s been scrambled and securely transmitted.

    In public talks, Andrew Wiles, an Englishman who solved the Fermat puzzle, has seldom spoken of cryptography. In 1999, however, he touched on the topic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in describing recent math advances.

    Dr. Wiles now teaches at the University of Oxford, which in 2013 opened a $100 million building named after him. Officials from Britain’s equivalent of the N.S.A. — the Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, are no strangers to the Andrew Wiles Building.

    In 2017, for instance, two officials from GCHQ gave talks there. They were Dan Shepherd, a researcher who helped uncover a major vulnerability in a proposed cipher, and Richard Pinch, the agency’s head of mathematics.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    Gambling, Risky Pranks and Lucrative Contracts: Inside the Streaming Site Kick

    December 2, 2023

    Netflix Builds a ‘Squid Game’ Universe as It Awaits a Second Season

    December 2, 2023

    What’s Next for OpenAI, Binance Is Binanceled and A.I. Is Eating the Internet

    December 1, 2023

    4,789 Facebook Accounts in China Impersonated Americans, Meta Says

    November 30, 2023

    Advertisers Say They Do Not Plan to Return to X After Musk’s Comments

    November 30, 2023

    Disinformation Is One of Climate Summit’s Biggest Challenges

    November 30, 2023
    Trending

    No more business as usual: the case for carbon pricing

    December 3, 2023

    Explosion at a Catholic Mass in the Philippines Kills at Least 4 and Injures Dozens

    December 3, 2023

    DeSantis says conservatives won’t be ‘gaslit’ by ‘people who think we’re dumb’ after Newsom debate

    December 3, 2023

    Joint Chiefs chairman says ‘we all should be’ worried about China possibly invading Taiwan

    December 3, 2023
    Latest News

    Boebert Apologizes for Vaping in a Denver Theater

    September 16, 2023

    Pentagon panel recommends bases stop selling guns to troops under 25 to fight suicides

    February 25, 2023

    There Won’t Be Much New York in Seattle at This Year’s All-Star Game

    July 3, 2023

    In a Lawsuit, Tucker Carlson Is Accused of Promoting a Hostile Work Environment

    April 24, 2023

    US reports no casualties after rocket hits base in Syria

    April 11, 2023

    Protests in Sierra Leone Over Rising Cost of Living Turn Deadly

    August 12, 2022

    Network Today is one of the biggest English news portal, we provide the latest news from all around the world.

    We're social. Connect with us:

    Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest YouTube
    Recent

    No more business as usual: the case for carbon pricing

    December 3, 2023

    Explosion at a Catholic Mass in the Philippines Kills at Least 4 and Injures Dozens

    December 3, 2023

    DeSantis says conservatives won’t be ‘gaslit’ by ‘people who think we’re dumb’ after Newsom debate

    December 3, 2023
    Featured

    House Oversight to hold first Biden impeachment hearing this month

    September 13, 2023

    Wall St. Foresees a Rosy 6 Months. Corporate America Isn’t So Sure.

    June 30, 2023

    Frustrated Phillies Are Repeating the Wrong Past

    November 4, 2022
    Copyright ©️ All rights reserved | Network Today
    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Contact

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.