The challenge of tamperproof Internet computing

Internet computing, harnessing global communication to increase computational power, is now possible. But will it ever truly be secure? Researchers have proposed various schemes to transform the Internet into the “Interputer”. Several companies are creating applications, tools, and protocols to harvest cycles from idling CPUs around the world, while compensating their obviously industrious users with offline and online gifts. Although the potential benefits of a universally accessible Interputer are undoubtedly extensive, a fundamental problem lurks backstage: How can you guarantee the accuracy of the results you receive from a remote computing node, which has just purportedly run the program you sent it? The article examines this question and suggests an answer involving cryptography