Keybase: deliver public-key cryptography to the mass user
The Andreessen Horowitz venture fund, which has already been written about today , has invested $ 10.8 million in Keybase startup. The company is trying to make the Internet more secure by promoting public key encryption. One of the members of the board of directors of the startup will be the partner of the fund Chris Dixon .
Almost every day you can read about another loud hacking. Recent examples include hacking Sony's confidential business correspondence (as a result of which it was made public), as well as hacking Apple iCloud (as a result, private photos of celebrities flooded the Internet).
Burglars are becoming more sophisticated, revealing the resources and security systems designed for outdated threats, as easily as a can of sprats. Because of this, many people (however justifiably) begin to doubt the confidence in technology companies that store and process private information.
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All this happens, despite the fact that the technology that solves this problem has long existed, and this is how you probably already understand public key cryptography . Public key encryption was invented by mathematicians and programmers in the 1970s. Today it is difficult to overestimate the value of this invention.
Why is this technology not used everywhere? In varying degrees, various forms of cryptography are used in almost every popular Internet service, yet hacking and data compromise continues. This is mainly due to the imperfection of the built-in cryptographic protocols, specially introduced software errors, employees' mistakes, production economy, legal restrictions and incorrect management decisions.
The ideal solution would be to use pure technology so that you do not have to doubt third-party suppliers. Today, only the most technically savvy users of the network use this technology. Fusion journalist Kashmir Hill, for example, tweeted her public key:
However, to send an encrypted message, you must use software tools that are usually too complex and cumbersome for ordinary users. As a result, technology remains the refuge of a small circle of technically advanced enthusiasts.
The key idea behind Keybase is to make technology accessible to regular users. Essentially Keybase is a database. Here, for example, is the Keybase profile of Stripe ’s co-founder Patrick Collison :
All data in the profile is verified by the user.
In addition to the banal sending of messages, public-key cryptography can be used in a wide range of tasks, ranging from file sharing to software verification and control of source code modification. It is quite possible to use it for authentication on websites, which can make unnecessary both simple password protection and two-factor authentication, which is now widely implemented ( remembering Slack ).
In addition to its core storage functions, Keybase is developing a set of native applications for various platforms.
The key principle of Keybase is that you do not need to trust the service, since all the necessary software is open source, which provides opportunities for both independent verification and development of forks, however, like Keybase itself. So everything that requires even the slightest trust is verifiable. Based on all this, it is clear that no matter what happens to the platform itself, it will not affect the security of everything that Keybase uses.
Keybase founders - Chris Coyne and Max Krohn ( Max Krohn ), met at Harvard, where they studied mathematics and computer science. The first joint company, SparkNotes , started there , after it was OKCupid , in 2011 bought by Match.com.
Public key cryptography was in long prison in the niche technological communities. Too long. It is time to spread it to the whole world. This is the mission of the Keybase team. We wish them good luck!
Almost every day you can read about another loud hacking. Recent examples include hacking Sony's confidential business correspondence (as a result of which it was made public), as well as hacking Apple iCloud (as a result, private photos of celebrities flooded the Internet).
Burglars are becoming more sophisticated, revealing the resources and security systems designed for outdated threats, as easily as a can of sprats. Because of this, many people (however justifiably) begin to doubt the confidence in technology companies that store and process private information.
')
All this happens, despite the fact that the technology that solves this problem has long existed, and this is how you probably already understand public key cryptography . Public key encryption was invented by mathematicians and programmers in the 1970s. Today it is difficult to overestimate the value of this invention.
A key advantage of public key encryption is independence from telematic service providers. On the side are postal services, instant messengers, social networks, search engines, Internet providers, mobile operators, policies, legal agreements and much more. The use of this technology requires only confidence in mathematics.Public key cryptographyA public-key cryptographic system (or asymmetric encryption, asymmetric cipher) is an encryption and / or electronic signature (ES) system in which the public key is transmitted over an open (i.e., unprotected, available for observation) channel and is used to check the ES and to encrypt messages. The essence of public key encryption is that one key is used to encrypt data, and another key is used to decrypt (therefore, such systems are often called asymmetric).
Why is this technology not used everywhere? In varying degrees, various forms of cryptography are used in almost every popular Internet service, yet hacking and data compromise continues. This is mainly due to the imperfection of the built-in cryptographic protocols, specially introduced software errors, employees' mistakes, production economy, legal restrictions and incorrect management decisions.
The ideal solution would be to use pure technology so that you do not have to doubt third-party suppliers. Today, only the most technically savvy users of the network use this technology. Fusion journalist Kashmir Hill, for example, tweeted her public key:
There are ghost PGP keys out for me. This is my preferred one: AE77 9CA9 59C8 0469 76D5 CC2D 0B3C BD37 D934
- Kashmir Hill (@kashhill) April 2, 2015However, to send an encrypted message, you must use software tools that are usually too complex and cumbersome for ordinary users. As a result, technology remains the refuge of a small circle of technically advanced enthusiasts.
The key idea behind Keybase is to make technology accessible to regular users. Essentially Keybase is a database. Here, for example, is the Keybase profile of Stripe ’s co-founder Patrick Collison :
All data in the profile is verified by the user.
In addition to the banal sending of messages, public-key cryptography can be used in a wide range of tasks, ranging from file sharing to software verification and control of source code modification. It is quite possible to use it for authentication on websites, which can make unnecessary both simple password protection and two-factor authentication, which is now widely implemented ( remembering Slack ).
In addition to its core storage functions, Keybase is developing a set of native applications for various platforms.
The key principle of Keybase is that you do not need to trust the service, since all the necessary software is open source, which provides opportunities for both independent verification and development of forks, however, like Keybase itself. So everything that requires even the slightest trust is verifiable. Based on all this, it is clear that no matter what happens to the platform itself, it will not affect the security of everything that Keybase uses.
Keybase founders - Chris Coyne and Max Krohn ( Max Krohn ), met at Harvard, where they studied mathematics and computer science. The first joint company, SparkNotes , started there , after it was OKCupid , in 2011 bought by Match.com.
Public key cryptography was in long prison in the niche technological communities. Too long. It is time to spread it to the whole world. This is the mission of the Keybase team. We wish them good luck!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/292640/
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