From: Jiri Baum <jirib@sweeney.cs.monash.edu.au>
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 13:56:46 +0800
To: packrat@tartarus.uwa.edu.au
Subject: Re: FV's Borenstein discovers keystroke capture programs! (pictures at 11!) [NOISE]
In-Reply-To: <199601301216.UAA00325@ratbox.rattus.uwa.edu.au>
Message-ID: <199601310534.QAA12672@sweeney.cs.monash.edu.au>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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Hello dmacfarlane@zip.sbi.com (David Macfarlane), cypherpunks@toad.com
  and packrat@tartarus.uwa.edu.au
        (ie Bruce Murphy <packrat@ratbox.rattus.uwa.edu.au>)
 
BM wrote:
> In message <9601292041.AA14422@zip_master2.sbi.com>, 
>   David Macfarlane wrote:
...
> If secure input is needed then it shouldn't be too much of a
> problem. I doubt the program would recognize either of INTERCAL input
> or output (as a random example)
...

Original INTERCAL had numbers spelled out in English as input, and
output in butchered roman numerals. I guess you can get people
to do the input (four or eight digits at a time only), but I don't think
the roman numerals are going to cut it, somehow...  and anyway it's
not that much more secure.

C-INTERCAL is less anglo-centric, allowing numbers to be input in
eight languages (eight = ashtan = zortzi = walo = chicue = rva =
malhgwenalh = j"ol). But do you really think people will be willing
to spell their credit-card number in classical Nahuatl for the
sake of security (the *bank's* security)?

If you mean INTERCAL as a programming language, then I guess you
can use the C-INTERCAL binary I/O (character deltas, output reverse),
but then it's no different to any other programming language (except
nobody bothered to implement file and network I/O for it yet so you'd
have to invent it yourself).

...
> > And before pm. says it, this has very little to do with
> > cryptography.
> 
> Or trees.

Well, how about security through INTERCAL? Would anyone be able to
figure out what an INTERCAL encryption program is doing?

What does the following fragment do?

        PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP
        DO .3 <- !3~#15'$!3~#240'
        DO .3 <- !3~#15'$!3~#240'
        DO .2 <- !3~#15'$!3~#240'

(Hint: it's from the "cat" program, ie copy stdin to stdout verbatim.)


Anyone have a bignum library in the said language?
 

For the person who was worried about his Linux box, perhaps the 
virus runs under WINE? (And you *know* how dangerous these viruses
can get when they are drunk :-)


I think I'll put [NOISE] into the subject line...

Jiri
- --
If you want an answer, please mail to <jirib@cs.monash.edu.au>.
On sweeney, I may delete without reading!
PGP 463A14D5 (but it's at home so it'll take a day or two)
PGP EF0607F9 (but it's at uni so don't rely on it too much)

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