Cryptography breakthrough could make software unhackable

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/02/cryptography-breakthrough/ / graduate student Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT Amit Sahaizero-knowledge proof mathematical protocol convincing convince someone something is true without revealing details true Sahai counterintuitive concept daring notion possible mask inner workings proof computer program programme figure out how it worked Quanta Magazine edit editor editorially independent division Simons Foundation SimonsFoundation.org mission enhance public understanding science cover covering research developments trend trends maths mathematics physical life sciences obfuscation obfuscating develop development developing developed rigorous mathematical framework concept create created unassailable obfuscation scheme commercial software companies engineered various techniques gable garbled garbling computer program hard harder understand perform performing same function hack hacking hacked hackers defeat defeated every attempt commercial obfuscatorsspeed bump computing computer science professor University of California Los Angeles UCLA attack attacking attacked attacker unlock secret secrets hidden software secure program obfuscation would be useful for many applications protect protecting software patches patch obscuring workings chip chips read encrypted DVDs DVD encrypt encrypting software controlling military drones create autonomous autonomousely your bank balance dropped passwords password secrets secret program agent into computing wild onto untrusted computers Sahai captured enemy interrogated disassemble disassembled but it couldn’t be forced to reveal your secrets Sahai pondered program obfuscation colleague colleagues potential far surpassed specific applications program obfuscator created problem problems driven cryptography problem problems conduct secure interactions Internet connection know trust program obfuscator powerful tool finding plausible constructions any cryptographic task Yuval Ishai Technion Haifa Israel obfuscation’s power computer scientists colleagues impossible too powerful to exist earliest research findings confirmation confirm co-authors posted paper Cryptology ePrint Archive demonstrating demonstrate candidate protocol indistinguishability obfuscation Brent Waters University of Texas Austin paper arcane form obfuscation power cryptographers cryptographer cryptography serious positive result universal obfuscator Boaz Barak Microsoft Research Cambridge, Massachusets cryptography community Leonard Schulman California Institute of Technology Pasadena plausible construction is huge powerful exist /