Also, see comments in draft. I don't know what the standard
length is for this kind of document, but it seems to get a bit wordy in
there at times...
--- Adam Haberlach http://www.testlab.orst.edu/~haberlaa Crack DES NOW! http://www.frii.com/~rcv/deschall.htm> -----Original Message----- > From: C Matthew Curtin [SMTP:cmcurtin@research.megasoft.com] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 1997 8:21 PM > To: deschall@gatekeeper.megasoft.com > Subject: DRAFT: Press Release > > Comments, please... I want to release this on Wednesday of this > week. If it requires more time to fix up, then I'd like to have it > out as soon after that as possible. > > DESCHALL Group Searches for DES Key > > [DRAFT] (will say ``for immediate release'' here one day) [DRAFT] > > In answer to RSA Data Security, Inc.'s ``crypto challenge,'' a group > of students, hobbyists, and professionals of all varieties is looking > for a needle in a proverbial haystack. The ``needle'' is the > cryptographic key used to encrypt a given message, and the > ``haystack'' is the huge pile of possible keys: > 72,057,594,037,927,936 of them. > > /* I like it */ > > The point? To prove that computing technology is sufficiently > advanced that such a search is feasible using only the spare cycles of > general purpose computing equipment, and as a result, unless much > > /* I think there should be a 'that' between 'and' and 'as' */ > > larger ``keys'' are used, the security provided by cryptosystems is > minimal. Conceptually, a cryptographic key bears many similarities to > the key of a typical lock. A long key has more possible combinations > of grooves than a short key. With a very short key, it might even be > feasible to try every possible combination of grooves in order to find > a key that matches a given lock. In a cryptographic system, keys are > measured in length of bits, rather than grooves, but the principle is > the same: unless a long enough key is used, computers can be used to > figure out every possible combination until the correct one is found. > > /* The second sentence is a bit too long, but otherwise good */ > > In an electronic world, cryptography is how both individuals and > organizations keep things that need to be private from being public > knowledge. Whether it's a private conversation or an electronic funds > transfer between two financial institutions, cryptography is what > keeps the details of the data exchange private. It has often been > openly suggested that the US Government's DES (Data Encryption > Standard) algorithm's 56-bit key size is insufficient for protecting > information from either a funded attack, or a large-scale coordinated > attack, where large numbers of computers are used to figure out the > text of the message by brute force: that is, trying every possible > combination. > > /* we might want to mention that our effort is using resources that > otherwise would be wasted, or are essentially free. If someone had > some serious money to devote to this, it could be done routinely. Has > anyone done the math to see what the total monetary value of our > effort is? */ > > > Success with this project will prove such postulations correct. > > The effort is being coordinated through a web site at > http://www.frii.com/~rcv/deschall.htm. Many more > participants are sought in order to speed up the search. The client > software is available through the web site. One simply needs to > follow the download instructions to obtain a copy of the software. > Once this has been done, the client simply needs to be started, and > allowed to run in the background. During otherwise wasted cycles, the > computer will work its way through the DES keyspace, until some > computer cooperating in the effort finds the answer. > > Contacts: > Project Coordinator > Rocke Verser <rcv@dopey.verser.frii.com> > > Web Site > http://www.frii.com/~rcv/deschall.htm > > Mailing List > deschall@gatekeeper.megasoft.com > > To subscribe, send the text ``subscribe deschall'' (without the > quotes) to <majordomo@gatekeeper.megasoft.com>, and you'll be > emailed instructions. > > -- > Matt Curtin Chief Scientist Megasoft, Inc. > cmcurtin@research.megasoft.com > http://www.research.megasoft.com/people/cmcurtin/ I speak only for > myself > Death to small keys. Crack DES NOW! > http://www.frii.com/~rcv/deschall.htm