From: Eric Hughes <hughes@soda.berkeley.edu>
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 93 16:25:11 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Info on Mykotronx
In-Reply-To: <9304222236.AA15100@anchor.ho.att.com>
Message-ID: <9304222321.AA02657@soda.berkeley.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


the vp from mycotoxin spoke, and some reporter said:

	   "He said the chip announced yesterday, internally referred to 
	   as MYK-78, costs about $40 and uses an algorithm 16 million times 
	   more complex than that used by chips now on the market. 
	   Computer hackers have penetrated the current chips."

16 M is approx 2^24
80 bit wiretap chip key - 56 bit DES key = 24

Just because the key is 24 bits longer doesn't mean the chips are that
much more complex.

Biham and Shamir have reduced the security of DES down to 2^47 (maybe
down a few more in the exponent), but that does not mean that it has
been broken.  2^47 chosen plaintexts is not a feasible attack in a
reasonably deployed system.  This is the best known attack.  Biham and
Shamir are not computer hackers, either.

So assuming the reporter was basically accurate, what's the score for
our VP?  One deceit and one outright lie combined with a gratuitous
slander.

Eric