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February 11, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n How \u2018effectively zero-knowledge\u2019 proofs could transform cryptography<\/p>\n A new tool expands the ways people can prove they\u2019ve solved a problem without revealing the solution<\/p>\n By Peter Hall edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier<\/span><\/p>\n In mathematics, proofs can be written down and shared. In cryptography, when people are trying to avoid revealing their secrets, proofs are not always so simple\u2014but a new result significantly closes this gap.<\/p>\n Zero-knowledge proofs are the closest cryptography gets to magic. They promise to let one person convince another of the truth of some fact\u2014say, that they know the solution to a sudoku puzzle\u2014without giving away any information about it. Such proofs can help people authenticate identities virtually, make online banking transactions, build blockchains, and more.<\/p>\n Cryptographers, however, have long understood that zero-knowledge proofs can\u2019t safely be written down like a typical mathematical proof. Instead the prover needs to interact with the person they\u2019re convincing. In rare cases, the prover can also persuade someone of something untrue (such as that a sudoku puzzle is completable when it has no solution).<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Computer scientist Rahul Ilango realized there was a gap between how zero knowledge is defined and how it\u2019s used. Typical zero-knowledge proofs require a demonstration of how to build what\u2019s called a simulator, which can re-create the steps of the proof without actually knowing the secret solution. The existence of this simulator shows that the proof process does not reveal anything about the solution itself. But Ilango found that it can be enough, in some cases, to simply show that a simulator\u2019s existence can\u2019t be ruled out. He presented the result at the 2025 IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science in Sydney.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could imagine some really strange scenario where a cryptographic system is insecure [and reveals something about the information that is locked inside], but it\u2019s impossible to prove it\u2019s insecure,\u201d says Ilango, who is based at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. \u201cWhat that means is it\u2019s basically secure for all practical purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n Because this new criterion is just a bit easier to satisfy than zero knowledge, Ilango could build protocols that don\u2019t need the parties to interact and that prevent the prover from being able to convince with false answers.<\/p>\n To construct the new proof system, called an effectively zero-knowledge proof, Ilango took ideas from mathematician Kurt G\u00f6del\u2019s 1931 incompleteness theorem, which basically says many sets of assumptions have some facts they can neither prove nor disprove. Ilango showed that he could construct a proof system in which such assumptions, including a set known as ZFC that underlies much of mathematics, cannot disprove a simulator\u2019s existence even when it doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n University of California, Los Angeles, computer scientist Amit Sahai, who was not involved in the work, says this paradigm is already proving more useful than he initially expected. \u201cIt\u2019s just so beautiful,\u201d Sahai says. \u201c[Ilango]\u2019s paper is, in my opinion, the most creative and most consequential paper in the field of zero-knowledge proofs at least in the past decade.\u201d<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 11, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm How \u2018effectively zero-knowledge\u2019 proofs could transform cryptography A new tool expands the ways people can prove they\u2019ve solved a problem without revealing the solution By Peter Hall edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier In mathematics, proofs can be written down and shared. In cryptography, when<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[12122,19083,20259,8014,23012],"class_list":{"0":"post-44255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-cryptography","9":"tag-effectively","10":"tag-proofs","11":"tag-transform","12":"tag-zeroknowledge"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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