From: Adamsc@io-online.com (Adamsc)
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 22:40:32 +0800
To: "trei@process.com>
Subject: Re: Can we kill single DES?
Message-ID: <19961004020539265.AAB223@GIGANTE>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Tue, 1 Oct 1996 16:27:18 -6, Peter Trei wrote:

>1. Is this a good idea? What will happen if DES becomes perceived
>    as insecure?

That's Declan's department (and other non-clueless journalists - declan is
just the most visible).   If it get's widespread and the target is something
like Digicash, it'd get picked up by the Crime/Snoozeweek crowd.

>2. What is the probability of success required to make it worth doing?

Judging by the people on the list, about 50%.... <g>

>3. What would be the consequences of failure?

Depends on the type of failure - ranging from dreadful to minor.

>4. What other platforms than NT/Win95/Pentium should be considered?
>   I could write a Unix demon version, but unless it's tailored for the 
>   cpu, a lot of efficency is lost
>   (The aggregate number of idle cycles available for testing is the 
>  crucial number).

A Linux port (Pentium) would be *very* good - lots of Linux people tend to by
pro-cpunk.  Ditto for OS/2.   And who knows, if you hyped the business
aspects enough you might even find IBM or some other large corp willing to
donate some time on large system.

>5. What's a good target? Ideally, we need a plaintext/ciphertext pair,

ecash, ecash, ecash!    Given all the attention anything that 'will give your
VISA number to evil hackers' gets, this is an important target.  It's serious
and newsworthy.

>6. What other incentives can be used to recruit machines?

Maybe give away a Pentium to the person who finds it? (Assuming donations
from list members, of course)

#  Chris Adams <adamsc@io-online.com>   | http://www.io-online.com/adamsc/adamsc.htp
#  <cadams@acucobol.com>		 | send mail with subject "send PGPKEY"
"That's our advantage at Microsoft; we set the standards and we can change them."
   --- Karen Hargrove, Microsoft (quoted in the Feb 1993 Unix Review editorial)