November 1992 - cypherpunks-legacy

Welcome message for cypherpunks-announce
by hughes 27 Nov '92

27 Nov '92

We've created a secondary list, cypherpunks-announce(a)toad.com. If you want to keep in touch, but don't want the volume of mail the full list produces, get yourself switched over. And remember not to post such requests to the whole list. Thanks. The welcome message follows. Eric ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 27 Nov 92 10:44:31 PST From: hughes(a)toad.com (Eric Hughes) To: cypherpunks-announce Subject: Welcome Welcome to the cypherpunks-announce list. This is a low-volume list for announcements, news, and meeting schedules. It is not a digest. It is moderated by Eric Hughes, also the maintainer of the full list. Each of you has at some point been on the full list and asked to be dropped for mail volume. If you really don't want to be even on the announce list, send mail to cypherpunks-announce-request(a)toad.com and ask to be removed from the announce list. Eric

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Re: ping
by cordones＠IMAGE.CS.NYU.EDU 27 Nov '92

27 Nov '92

Me too. In fact, I am insecure my message ever got through because no one has said anything about it. It was regarding "The NSA backsdown". I was asking how could point me to thse so called "secret" documents that are available at some libraries. Did that get through Boys? Thanks

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List is partially broken
by donb＠netcom.com 27 Nov '92

27 Nov '92

The message below was received in response to a ping sent to this list. However I know that it got some distribution because Yanek answered it. donb(a)netcom.com Forwarded message: > From Mailer-Daemon Fri Nov 27 09:03:27 1992 > Message-Id: <MAILQUEUE-102.921127120540.672(a)newschool.edu> > From: Postmaster(a)newschool.edu > To: donb(a)netcom.com > Subject: Rejected Mail > Date: Fri Nov 27 12:05:03 1992 > > > Unable to deliver message because: > > @ : Insufficient Disk Space > > Returned Text follows > ------------------- > Received: From relay2.UU.NET by newschool.edu > via Charon 3.4 with SMTP id 102.921127120528.384; > 27 Nov 92 12:04:51 +0500 > Received: from toad.com by relay2.UU.NET with SMTP > (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA03427; Fri, 27 Nov 92 11:56:15 -0500 > Received: from netcom2.netcom.com ([192.100.81.108]) by toad.com id AA01076; Fri, 27 Nov 92 08:55:12 PST > Received: by netcom2.netcom.com (5.65/SMI-4.1/Netcom) > id AA09053; Fri, 27 Nov 92 08:51:00 -0800 > Date: Fri, 27 Nov 92 08:51:00 -0800 > From: donb(a)netcom.com (Don Bellenger) > Message-Id: <9211271651.AA09053(a)netcom2.netcom.com> > To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > Subject: ping > > This is a test. I am seeing mail rejected due > to mail spool full @ newschool. > > --

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Re: Mac PGP report and Rander progress
by tony＠morgan.demon.co.uk 27 Nov '92

27 Nov '92

In message <9211270003.AA20577(a)napa.TELEBIT.COM> you write: > Has anyone given any thought to generating random numbers by counting > particle emissions from a radioactive source? This might be more > reliably random than using purely electronic means. > I don't think that for any given length of random bit string, you'd be practically happy carrying around a suitable source. Thermal noise, which is what you get from a diode, is just as good a random source as radioactive decay. Tony ------------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------+ | Tony Kidson |`morgan' is an 8MB 486/33 Cat-| Voice +44 81 466 5127 | | Morgan Towers, |Warmer with a 670 MB Hard Disk.| E-Mail | | Morgan Road, |It resides at Morgan Towers in| tony(a)morgan.demon.co.uk | | Bromley, |Beautiful Down Town Bromley. | tny(a)cix.compulink.co.uk | | England BR1 3QE | -=<*>=- | 100024.301(a)compuserve.com| +=================+===============================+==========================+

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ping
by donb＠netcom.com 27 Nov '92

27 Nov '92

This is a test. I am seeing mail rejected due to mail spool full @ newschool.

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(fwd) 8052-Based Crypto Engine
by tcmay＠netcom.com 27 Nov '92

27 Nov '92

I just found this is sci.crypt. It may be useful for the "crypto dongle" folks. --Tim May Newsgroups: sci.crypt,comp.arch Subject: 8052-Based Crypto Engine From: mmm(a)cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) Date: 27 Nov 92 06:50:33 GMT Here is the text from a press release which landed on my desk yesterday: A new microcontroller from Philips Semiconductors-Signetics designed for use in smart-card applications is the first to incorporate an on-chip arithmetic unit optimized to calculate public-key cryptography algorithms widely used in commercial transactions. The 83C852 CMOS microcontroller can be embedded in plastic smart cards and provides 2K bytes of on-chip EEPROM for program and data storage accessed under control of the unit's CPU. "The new microcontroller removes the barrier to smart-card use in applications where data security is a concern," said Thomas Brenner, product manager. "There is strong interest in using smart cards, for example, in medical insurance or remote banking transactions. But in such applications a high level of data security is indispensable," he said. "Likewise the need for secure access codes is a primary consideration for customer-card use in the Pay TV and cellular phone markets." The on-chip arithmetic unit running in parallel with the CPU can complete a 512-byte calculation in less than 1.5 seconds versus more than a minute to do the calculation in software. This high-speed performance makes it feasible to use highly secure and complex public-key cryptography algorithms in everyday transactions. Asymmetric, public-key cryptography uses one key to encrypt and another to decrypt so that only one of the keys need be kept secret. The other can be freely distributed. The method is thus highly applicable to commercial transactions. The 83C852 microcontroller is based on the industry-standard 8-bit 80C51 processor core and uses the same instruction set. The circuit incorporates 6 Kbytes of ROM and 256 bytes of RAM in addition to the 2 Kbytes of EEPROM. The EEPROM provides automatic hardware error correction for single-bit errors in any of the stored data bytes. After customer software is loaded, electronic fuses in the array can be blown to limit access to processor fetch commands. The address bus is mixed to provide further protection against fraudulent access and optical scanning, and a low-frequency detection circuit can guard against external tampering. The new processor operates from a single 5-volt supply at clock frequencies up to 6 MHz (1 microsecond instruction cycle). All voltages required during programming or erasure of the EEPROM are generated on chip. Nonvolatile data retention is for ten years and the circuit offers an infinite number of read cycles. The microcontroller includes a power-on/off reset circuit, and idle and power-down modes. The microcontrollers can be ordered as a wafer, die on foil or in SO-28 small-outline packages. The SO package is available for smart-card readers and can function as an embedded security module in systems such as restricted access computers. Wafer and die-on-foil versions of the 83C852 smart card microcontroller are available now at a unit price of $5.10 and $5.20 respectively in 10,000 quantites. Units in SO-28 packages will be available in first quarter 1993 priced at $6.85 in the same quantities. CONTACT: Thomas Brenner (408) 991-3552 He's with Philips-Signetics. I have no affiliation with them, so don't contact me about this part. If you call Tom, be sure to tell him you heard about the chip from MARK THORSON on USENET. If enough people do this, maybe they'll give me a free development system. (On the other hand maybe they'll tell me "Please don't post any more of our press releases on Usenet." :-) -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | PGP Public Key: by arrangement.

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Re: Returned mail: User unknown
by cordones＠IMAGE.CS.NYU.EDU 27 Nov '92

27 Nov '92

So..any courageous Cypherpunk that can post those papers or tell us what to look for in a library? (anonymous post, whatever). ----------- El Zorro.

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The NSA Backs Down!!
by karn＠qualcomm.com 27 Nov '92

27 Nov '92

r a AM-DeclassifiedCodes 11-26 0287 ^AM-Declassified Codes,0266< ^Government Reverses Itself, Declassifies Studies On Secret Codes< SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ The National Security Agency has reversed itself and declassified two cryptography texts it previously had insisted were secret even though they were available in public libraries. The announcement Wednesday came as a result of a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act by a Silicon Valley computer scientist who believes private companies should have more access to secret code technology. The analyst, John Gilmore, asked the spy agency to declassify the 50-year-old studies on encryption _ the science of designing codes. The U.S. Department of Justice recently had threatened to prosecute Gilmore under a 1950s espionage law if he distributed copies of the texts. In court papers, an NSA official said disclosure of the information could seriously damage national security. The agency is in charge of protecting U.S. codes and cracking foreign ones. Gilmore is a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation of Cambridge, Mass. The organization believes now-secret encryption technology is necessary for private companies to make modern computer and telephone systems secure from tampering. ``Why shouldn't an American citizen be able to go to the library and teach himself about encryption?'' asked Michael Godwin, a staff counsel at the foundation. Gilmore said he found copies of the once-declassified studies, made secret again by the Reagan administration, in public libraries. They presently are used as texts in military classes. He said he plans to distribute 20 or 30 copies to other libraries. The studies are about 1,000 pages long. AP-DS-11-26-92 1837EST<

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Mac PGP report and Rander progress
by crunch＠netcom.com 27 Nov '92

27 Nov '92

Mac PGP effort: After talking with Phil Zimmerman, we decided to break the MacPGP effort into two teams. A short term team as it currently stands now, with the origional members, and a long term team to change PGP into a set of C Libraries that can be used with ANY platform or API. The short term team consists of its current members who are doing current work on the Mac implementation. Next week, perhaps on Wednesday Evening at 7 pm, we will be setting up a conference call to talk about all of the details, and introduce each other. My role in this currently will be that of Email coordinator between the Mac PGP effort and the other platforms. It is obviously clear that there is still a lot of mis-trust that people have in me. I guess it's still very hard to ditch that "Once a criminal- always a criminal" attitude. Phil Karn says: >John Draper was proposing to manufacture rs232 random number >generators -- would you buy a used random number from this man? This is EXACTLY my point. So I WILL be publishing the schematic and I expect the Rander box will be put through it's paces. I have simplified the circuit immensly, and even eliminated the AD converter, but not sure the design works, but want to run the design by a few other HW types before I "breadboard" it. I think I got it down to 3 chips including the UART. Two CMOS chips, a Latch and a gate I'm using as a comparitor, and the UART plus a noise source. Gack!! All these years I try and ELIMINATE noise, and now I am LOOKING for noise. By biasing one of the gates, into the linear mode, it doubles as the amplifier for the noise source. I've gone eligantly simple with the design, I just hope it works. Perhaps this circuit can be integrated into Yanek's Dongle. Phil K. writes: >>My thinking is to limit the external "dongle" to the one function that >>is truly sensitive and worthy of special protection: RSA secret key >>operations. Eric Hughes replies: >Phil's comment are right on. There is a need for you secret keys >to be easily and physically relocatable. The Obvious, cheapest, but perhaps not the best way, is to keep your key on a floppie. More later ....

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Re: chip verification ( Was: Tollhouse Cookies :-)
by George A. Gleason 26 Nov '92

26 Nov '92

John Gilmore points out that in hardware, "proving anything becomes very slippery..." Seems to me that we can establish degrees of confidence, in much the same way as pertains to social sciences research: probabilities that a given result is accurate. So for instance, we could say that a device made with parts purchased randomly for cash over the counter at a number of different suppliers, might have a lower probability of compromise than one made with parts mail-ordered from the same large supplier to the producer's workshop every time. Over time it may be possible to quantify the measure of confidence. -gg.

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