"U. Researchers' Cryptography Algorithm Selected as National Standard"
The FALCON algorithm, developed by NTRU Cryptosystems, Inc., was chosen as one of the 2022 national cryptography standards by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) due to its new method of computation that is less vulnerable to a quantum computer attack. NIST chose four cryptography algorithms as national standards for public key security in July to prepare for the era of quantum computers, which use quantum physics for more powerful computing and will break the security of current algorithms. Three of the four algorithms chosen are based on technology developed by NTRU Cryptosystems, Inc., which was founded in 1996 by a group of Brown University researchers. According to Jeff Hoffstein, founder of NTRU Cryptosystems, Inc. and professor and chair of mathematics, a cryptography algorithm is a method by which two people can exchange messages and secrets. William Whyte, senior director of technical standards at Qualcomm, which acquired NTRU Cryptosystems, Inc., says that these algorithms serve two primary functions: data scrambling and data authentication. Cryptography algorithms include keys that can be used to encrypt or decrypt data. In data scrambling, two types of cryptography are used: symmetric and asymmetric. While symmetric cryptography algorithms are fast, they present an authentication problem in which the sender and receiver can pretend to be the other, allowing for identity fraud. This problem is solved by asymmetric cryptography algorithms, also known as public key cryptography algorithms. The public key algorithm allows for truly secure online identities by requiring both a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption, so that only one person needs to know a secret for two people to communicate. Historically, public key cryptography was considered secure because calculating the decryption key from the encryption key would take eons until the sun burned out if ordinary computers were used. However, researchers believe that this security will be jeopardized in the age of quantum computers. In order to protect data, new public key encryption algorithms are required. This article continues to discuss the algorithm developed by NTRU Cryptosystems, Inc. to keep data secure in the quantum computer age.