From: hallam@w3.org
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 95 17:12:37 PDT
To: Will French <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: SSL trouble
In-Reply-To: <199508262118.RAA15661@interport.net>
Message-ID: <9508270011.AA25215@zorch.w3.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



>> Use integrity checks to ensure that the slaves are acting
>> properly. One method of doing this is to keep secret part of
>> the known plaintext (say 16 bits). A slave is required to
>> report _all_ matches in the range to the master. Slaves who
>> report a statistically low number of matches may be considered
>> suspicious. It is a simple matter to allocate part of that
>> keyspace to another processor for a double-check.

>  Please don't do anything like this.  This will prevent people
>like me who prefer the "random" method from participating.

Not true, it would be open for anybody to sweep a random space and report the 
results. The only difference would be that the sweeper who discovered the real 
key would not be the first to know of a break and that it would not be possible 
to attack the crack through dishonestly claiming to have swept space that hadn't 
been.

	Phill