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1996-04-09 - Re: Bank transactions on Internet

Header Data

From: Steve Reid <steve@edmweb.com>
To: JR Weaver <weaver@harry.bwi.wec.com>
Message Hash: dca4a6c754d042fba3c17314f844bd6851b6d282f7027601170c8ef1e6887d85
Message ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960408235041.8873A-100000@kirk.edmweb.com>
Reply To: <9604081642.ZM1632@harry.bwi.wec.com>
UTC Datetime: 1996-04-09 12:05:56 UTC
Raw Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 20:05:56 +0800

Raw message

From: Steve Reid <steve@edmweb.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 20:05:56 +0800
To: JR Weaver <weaver@harry.bwi.wec.com>
Subject: Re: Bank transactions on Internet
In-Reply-To: <9604081642.ZM1632@harry.bwi.wec.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960408235041.8873A-100000@kirk.edmweb.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


> Is it really that easy to break 40-bit? Don't you need access to a "fair
> amount of cpu power" to brute force crack 40bit? 

I remember reading a recent paper at this URL:
  http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/bsa-final-report.ascii
They mentioned a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), specifically a
board-mounted AT&T Orca chip available for around $400. They said it could
crack a 40-bit key in 5 hours (average). Sounds like anyone with root
access on a major internet node could make a significant profit stealing
credit card numbers.

The FPGA sounds like a very interesting device, with quite a few
legitimate uses... Has anyone out there seen one of these? 

(((cloaked sig file)))

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