[2017-03-05] Google: It’s ‘More Urgent Than Ever’ to Use Bitcoin’s Encryption

[tyz]

Google: It’s ‘More Urgent Than Ever’ to Use Bitcoin’s Encryption

Google has said the world should stop using SHA-1 cryptographic hash function and move on to SHA-256 – the cryptography used in Bitcoin.

In a release late last month, the company said it had successfully achieved the “world’s first SHA-1 collision,” an experiment where two pieces of data share the same hash.

The research was a joint project between Google researchers and the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

http://bitcoinist.com/google-bitcoin-encryption-security/

[LittleBitFunny]

Interesting to see Google supporting this, but I don't think they're trying to make any steps forward for the privacy of their users, rather just to try and prevent their services from getting hacked.  It's also important that Bitcoin didn't actually mention any kind of similarity to Bitcoin (or if they did, it's not quoted) and that this is just an observation made by Bitcoinist.

Bitcoinist also points out that Google has been arguing for this for years, so the news is less of a change of stance from Google and more just progress towards the newer system.

[Karartma1]

I supposed Google was much more advanced than that. I mean It's been nine years bitcoin uses SHA-256 

[Carlton Banks]

Google Press Office didn't check with the engineers: SHA-1 or SHA256 are not encryption ciphers.

The SHA family are hashing algorithms. There is no encryption in Bitcoin (until BIP 151 is implemented)

[Papa Bear]

Google has been stressing the need to abandon SHA-1 for several years, with software such as its Chrome browser and operating system among the first to see a decreased reliance on the technology, which is now twenty years old.

[digaran]

5 years from now quantum computers will successfully collide any keys hashed using SHA-256.

[Karartma1]

Google Press Office didn't check with the engineers: neither SHA-1 or SHA256 are not encryption ciphers.

The SHA family are hashing algorithms.

I didn't consider that.