Widely understood to be the technology behind popular crypto currencies, blockchain has become a household word. But what it blockchain really, and how does it work? Join our hosts and returning guest Alan Grau as they explain how blockchain functions, its strengths and weaknesses, and some of the other potential applications for this technology.

Certificate Transparency (CT) is a recent and important development in the world of SSL certificates. Popular browsers require trusted CAs to log all SSL certificates to publicly available CT Logs. Join our hosts to find out how various parties are using CT Logs to learn about CA behavior and SSL usage patterns and to improve the overall quality of public trust.

Nearly a year ago our hosts launched Root Causes to provide a forum for discussion of the issues surrounding the critically important PKI technology. Now at the end of 2019 we discuss how this podcast has taken shape, how that compares to our original expectations, and what we are looking forward to in 2020.

Random number generation is an essential part of successful cryptography. Quantum computers offer to improve this niche technology industry. Join our hosts to learn what quantum random number generators (qRNGs) are, how they stand to improve cryptography and other computing functions, and how they tie into post-quantum cryptography (or don't).

2019 saw important changes in the world's cryptographic standards, including changes in browser treatment of SSL certificates, the removal of a public CA from trusted root stores, widespread serial number entropy problems across many CAs, and progress in building quantum-resistant PKI. Join our hosts as they detail these going-on and others and talk about what 2020 may hold in terms of evolving cryptography.

California Senate Bill 327 (SB-327) goes into effect January 1, 2020. This groundbreaking ordinance requires basic security measures for devices deployed in California. Join us to learn what SB-327 requires from device manufacturers, which threats it protects against, and how this ordinance is leading the way toward stronger IoT security practices.

2019 was a highly eventful year for infrastructure and IoT security. The year saw the emergence of wholesale attacks on the world's energy infrastructure, an epidemic of ransomware incidents against municipalities, heightened attention to automotive identity and security, and a number of legislative measures to try to secure this whole set of systems and devices. Join our hosts as they talk about the trends in IoT and infrastructure security in 2019 and where these trends may go in 2020.

2019 has been an eventful year for PKI. In this episode, first in a series of four lookbacks at the year, our hosts discuss how governments sought to control encryption, certificates, and public trust in 2019.

New research out of Indiana University Bloomington reviews nearly 400 "incidents" with public SSL certificates over the course of more than a decade. Join us as we go through the main findings from this piece of original research, including methodology, incident types and causes, and rogue certificates.

In our industry interactions we frequently run into questions about how PKI and blockchain compare with each other. How do they work similarly or differently? Are they surrogates for each other? Are they complimentary? Join us this episode as we explain the details of how blockchain and PKI work, similarities and differences between them, and what use cases are appropriate for each.