Verifiable computing

<p>Verifiable computing (or verified computation or verified computing) enables a <a href="/facts/Computer/SQe1aK05">computer</a> to <a href="/facts/Computation_offloading/rLkJv9UF">offload</a> the <a href="/facts/Computation/qLsELosq">computation</a> of some function, to other perhaps untrusted <a href="/facts/Client%25E2%2580%2593server_model/FSnf27C5">clients</a>, while maintaining verifiable results. The other clients evaluate the function and return the result with a proof that the <a href="/facts/Computation/qLsELosq">computation</a> of the function was carried out correctly. The introduction of this notion came as a result of the increasingly common phenomenon of "<a href="/facts/Outsourcing/qa3WgJ7u">outsourcing</a>" computation to untrusted users in projects such as <a href="/facts/SETI%40home/y8w7Euex">SETI@home</a> and also to the growing desire to enable computationally-weak devices to outsource computational tasks to a more powerful computation service, as in <a href="/facts/Cloud_computing/guhg0FGV">cloud computing</a>. The concept dates back to work by Babai et al., and has been studied under various terms, including "checking computations" (Babai et al.),  "delegating computations", "certified computation", and verifiable computing. The term <i>verifiable computing</i> itself was formalized by Rosario Gennaro, <a href="/facts/Craig_Gentry_(computer_scientist)/VrzFdLyQ">Craig Gentry</a>, and Bryan Parno, and echoes Micali's "certified computation". 
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Verifiable computing open-in-new

Verifiable computing