Just the name Quadratic mathematics send shivers down most people’s spines as the majority of us have no clue as to what it is. The name itself comes from the word ‘quad’ so it means square. Although another way to describe it is that quadratic math is basically an equation where we do not know the value of X. Next, a, b, and c should give us numbers so we can figure out or estimate what X is.
We may not know it, but some of use quadratic equations in our everyday lives. The reason we are writing about this very boring topic is that we found out that it used in computer security equations by hackers as well as security teams that provide encrypted services such as Cyberghost for example. Check out the Cyberghost VPN software if you want to learn more about what encryption is before reading on.
Before the encrypted codes are made the security team that designed each protocol used for encryption would have had to figure out whether certain quadratic mathematical problems could be solved. If they can be solved, then these cannot be used for the encryption software. After all, the idea of the encryption software is to create a code that is impossible to hack and therefore the user has a secure connection to the VPN server that is basically unbreakable.
Hackers use software that uses brute force guessing at high speed – much faster than a human could possibly process these guesses before finding the correct code. The idea is to make this code so long that it is virtually impossible for a hacker to break it.
Now today’s fastest supercomputers can solve quadratic equations using what is known as 12 teraflops per second. The term ‘Flops’ is short for ‘Floating Point Operations’. With today’s encryption, even a supercomputer would find it difficult to break the string of code because it would take more than 10 years to solve 1 flop and that would be the computer guessing right the first time. Therefore, it is simple for encryption code makers to make sure even supercomputers cannot solve the code.
So how do hackers get into your computers if this encryption exists?
Well, there are loads of open ports, unprotected loopholes in networks, and even a human element involved in which someone on the inside helps the hacker along.
Effectively what happens is the hacker gets into the system from inside the encryption. However, the encryption itself cannot be hacked. For example, if you were using the Cyberghost VPN on a public Wi-Fi router, there is no way anyone on the router would be able to penetrate your connection even when armed with the very best quadratic code-breaking software.
On the other hand, if you were connecting without the VPN software it would be easy to get into your connection. The hacker could open up ports, plant a seed for later, and eventually create a back way into any networks that you regularly connect to. In this case, no amount of encryption is going to help. In the end, you should always use encryption whenever you may be exposing your computer to foreign networks away from your work or home connection as the encryption has been designed to stop quadratic software from cracking the code.
