Visualize how passkeys, which rely on asymmetric cryptography to authenticate users, work

Passkeys, a new authentication method, aim to replace traditional passwords

Passkeys use cryptography keys to secure logins without passwords, resisting phishing and risks from data breaches. The FIDO Alliance developed passkeys as a combination of public and private keys for authentication.

A mathematical breakdown of how RSA encryption uses prime numbers to encrypt data

This form of asymmetric cryptography uses mathematical functions that rely on the product of two large prime numbers. Because traditional computers struggle to factor such products, obtaining the private keys needed to decrypt messages becomes effectively impossible. This security can be reinforced with larger prime numbers, though this makes encryption more computationally taxing.

How hash functions encrypt stored passwords and can be enhanced with 'salt'

Hash functions convert text into unique, random sets of characters, a process that is computationally expensive and time-consuming to undo. Because hashed outputs for many common passwords are publicly listed, some sites use a salt—additional characters appended to a password—before hashing to produce an output that is not known. When entering a password, it is salted and hashed, then checked against the database for a matching hash before permitting login.

A visual guide to how bitcoin transactions work and rely on cryptography

The "crypto-" in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin refers to the mathematical functions that generate pairs of public and private keys and encrypt data in blocks. When combined, these systems secure transactions on the network, verify digital asset and token transfers, and contribute to end-user anonymity.

Microchips in payment cards improve security by generating unique transaction codes

Magnetic strips store unchanging data that is easily cloned, but microchips act as miniature computers that encrypt sensitive data. They also resist fraud by creating data unique to each transaction, preventing duplication.

Understanding the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, an example of public key cryptography

Published in 1976 by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, the system involves two parties combining each of their unique private keys with a public key using a mathematical function. The combinations are exchanged and mixed to establish a common key that no third party can determine. The Diffie-Hellman system underlies many encryption protocols for internet traffic.

Digital passports allow identity verification to be digitized

By scanning the security chip on the back of passports and capturing images or video of a person, apps like Google Wallet and Apple Wallet create a digital version of the document. Some states have also developed their own apps for digital driver's licenses.

How end-to-end encryption protects messages, even from service providers

Using symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, data is encrypted on the sender's device before being transmitted across application servers that lack the key needed to decrypt it. The message is not decrypted until it reaches the recipient's device, which uses their private key to recover the plaintext. E2EE's effectiveness has led to its adoption by WhatsApp and Signal.

Claude Shannon, for whom Anthropic's AI tools are named, proved the existence of an unbreakable cipher

In the one-time pad approach, the encryption key is randomly generated and of equal length to the plaintext. This randomness ensures that every possible plaintext is equally likely—RBBHN can mean HELLO, SOLVE, CODES, and so on, using a different key—while matching the message and key lengths prevents the appearance of patterns that can be exploited.

Technical vulnerabilities prevent full-proof anonymity when browsing the dark web

Despite encrypting data and relaying it within the Tor network, traffic between the network exit and the final destination is no longer hidden and can be captured. Law enforcement agencies can also attempt to deanonymize users by monitoring and matching data signal patterns entering and leaving the network via a correlation algorithm.

Watch a video that visualizes what really happens inside a credit card network when you make a purchase.

Every tap sets off a lightning-fast relay. When someone buys coffee with their Visa, a tiny "runner" races between the coffee shop's bank, Visa's network, and their bank—all in under a second. The catch? No money has actually moved yet. Here's what really happens behind that instant "Approved."

Privacy concerns in the credit scoring system

Because credit scores use a lot of personal information (such as whether or not someone makes credit card payments on time), some worry their privacy is being compromised in the data collection process.

The concept for Palantir's key software came from PayPal's anti-fraud protocol

PayPal, which, like Palantir, was cofounded by Peter Thiel, developed the initial framework for Palantir's data-mining service to prevent financial crime. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Thiel realized the software could also enable government agencies to connect data and prevent similar terrorist attacks from occurring in the future.

Audio deepfakes have fooled voice biometrics at banks

Limitations in facial and body movements as well as mismatches between audio and lip movements can sometimes help flag a video as a deepfake, but removal of the video component significantly improves AI mimicry.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Google data centers possess six layers of security

Property boundaries, such as anti-climb fencing, overlapping cameras, vehicle crash barriers, and circulating patrols, are coupled with lobby iris scans and ID and badge checks. The security operations center monitors individuals throughout their visit, including the less than 1% of Google users who ever receive permission to visit the data center floor.

Watch a cybersecurity expert answers questions about hacking

From firewalls and VPNs to ransomware and viruses, IBM Distinguished Engineer Jeff Crume has seen many changes in cybersecurity during his 40 years of IT experience. In this video, he explores some of the most significant hacking events in history and provides advice on protecting yourself online.

Meta's Quest and other mixed reality devices can make learning new skills easier

PianoVision utilizes the passthrough visibility of a headset to illuminate which keys to play on a real piano or keyboard, providing an immersive, software-based learning alternative to human instruction. Similar apps also offer virtual model replacements for physical devices, such as a virtual piano, to practice with.

Pareidolia: the cognitive bias of finding meaning in randomness

Many people equate "random" with "well-spaced," creating a cognitive bias that influences how people interpret events. This article explains how people tend to assume a generative force behind the patterns produced by randomness. This phenomenon, known as pareidolia, is seen in claims ranging from backward messages hidden in reversed audio recordings to tea leaf readings.

Learn how the algorithms behind Tinger, Bumble, Hinge, and other dating apps work

Formerly based on the Elo rating system, which ranks chess players, the Tinder algorithm is built on user data, with more time spent on the app providing more data on user preferences from which to customize potential matches. OkCupid's match percentage algorithm relies on overlaps in users' search preferences and responses to a subset of over 4,000 questions.

Trick an LLM into revealing sensitive information

Even with robust training, large language models may be fooled into providing sensitive information if correctly prompted. In this game, a wizard withholds eight passwords, which you must prompt them to reveal with ever-increasing LLM safeguards.

Autograph hunters form secretive networks to trade celebrity access tips

Inside the rarefied world of the autograph collector, individuals who will go to great lengths to gather celebrities' signatures.

The first criminal conviction through the use of DNA evidence was in 1988

Chromosomes contain markers where short DNA sequences repeat a variable number of times from person to person. A DNA profile is constructed by identifying the number of repeats across 20 regions throughout a genome, which can be compared against a database. DNA paternity tests work similarly by comparing markers between children and their fathers. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Biosignatures are the chemical fingerprints astrobiologists search for to find life

The 21st century has introduced advances making telescopes, cameras, and computers powerful enough to detect the presence of molecules associated with biological processes in distant atmospheres, expanding the search for life to include unreachable worlds.

Trademarks protect the branding of a service or product, while patents protect the product or service itself

Trademark protections cover the branding of a service or product, like its logo, its smell, or even its shape. However, patent protections give inventors exclusive control over a new product—as long as those inventors disclose how the product works and how they made it.

'Payment in kind' is a compensation method that uses alternatives to cash

Companies can make payments using goods, services, or additional securities instead of cash, helping companies preserve their cash flow. Public BDCs receive roughly 8% of their investment income via PIK.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

Fear or disgust related to clusters of holes and cracks, called trypophobia, may stem from evolutionary processes to help us avoid pathogens.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages

Ebola infects and disables immune cells, triggering a cascade of events that leads to small blood clots throughout the body, weakening blood vessels and interrupting blood flow to key organs.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail