Blockchain Quick Start Guide

Cryptography and hash functions

Cryptography or cryptology is research on techniques for securing communication in the presence of adversaries. In the old days, cryptography was synonymous with encryption. Modern cryptography relies heavily on mathematical theory and computer science. It also utilizes works from other disciplines such as electrical engineering, communications science, and physics.

Cryptographic algorithms are designed around the assumption that with foreseeable computational hardware advances, it will not be feasible for any adversary to decipher encrypted messages based on these algorithms. In other words, in theory, it is possible to decode the encrypted message, but it is infeasible to do so practically. These algorithms ...