Coded messages – once the domain of spies – now pervade our everyday lives, safeguarding our electronic transactions. So people like Jacques Stern, dubbed “the high priest of French cryptography”, are in demand like never before. Laura Spinney caught up with him in Paris to discuss code-breaking, how encryption emerged from the world of government espionage, and how to send a completely secure coded message
What cryptography problems have you worked on?
I use mathematics to ensure the security of communications, and my team’s work has been applied to electronic voting systems, online auctions, 3G telephones and chip-and-PIN payment systems. What that…
