From: "Deranged Mutant" <WlkngOwl@unix.asb.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 14:44:26 +0800
To: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Subject: DES-busting Javanese pagers and TVs
Message-ID: <199607240039.UAA27954@unix.asb.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On 23 Jul 96 at 15:53, Timothy C. May wrote:
[..]
> A while back I proposed one approach: a brute force "screen saver" for
> Windows machines. Other platforms, maybe, but the most cost-effective thing
> to do is to go after the Windows market only.

How about applets for java-aware pagers or tv-sets that will supposedly
show up in the near future?  When a crack is found, you can call a toll-free
number, give them the code, and win a prize (ala Chinese-lottery).

Would it be better to have them all try random keys rather than use 
assigned keyspaces?  Can't keysearches be shorted by half (not that 
it's that significant, 2^55 rather than 2^56) using complement  keys?

First thing one should check are the weak and semi-weak keys (a good 
implementation will avoid them, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't 
check for them).

[..]
> Acquiring chunks of keyspace remains an issue, but I think we resolved a
> while back that a probabalistic method works OK: people just pick chunks at
> random, and the decreased efficiency as compared to perfect scheduling is
> something like a factor of a couple (I have the numbers I calculated
> somewhere, and I recall Hal Finney made the same estimate).
> 
> Some means of communicating results--especially wins!--is still needed.
> This is where Perry's idea of a Java program is a good one.

Rob
 
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