September 1993 - cypherpunks-legacy

DES is dead
by jim＠tadpole.com 09 Sep '93

09 Sep '93

Forwarded, 'cause I've not seen it on cypherpunks as yet. Note that the NIST has approved DES for another couple years. Jim Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1993 14:13:13 -0400 (EDT) From: Matt Lawrence <matt(a)access.digex.net> Subject: Re: [prz(a)columbine.cgd.ucar.EDU: Re: DES Key Search Paper (fwd)] (fwd) To: eff-austin-directors(a)tic.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII With the crypto conference coming up, I figured y'all ought to see this. -- Matt ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 8 Sep 93 09:57:27 EDT From: Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox(a)ccs.neu.edu> To: The Elboid Nation <elbows(a)mc.lcs.mit.edu> Subject: Re: [prz(a)columbine.cgd.ucar.EDU: Re: DES Key Search Paper (fwd)] This came to me via one of the crypto lists I'm on. I'm certain some of you crypto-weenies out there will be interested: From: Philip Zimmermann <prz(a)columbine.cgd.ucar.EDU> To: ratinox(a)ccs.neu.edu Subject: Re: DES Key Search Paper (fwd) Michael Weiner presented a paper at Crypto93 that describes a fast DES key search engine that uses a special inside-out DES chip that he designed. This chip takes a single plaintext/ciphertext pair and quickly tries DES keys until it finds one that produces the given ciphertext from the given plaintext. Weiner can get these chips made for $10.50 each in quantity, and can build a special machine with 57000 of these chips for $1 million. This machine can exhaust the DES key space in 7 hours, finding a key in 3.5 hours on the average. He works for Bell Northern Research in Ottawa, and says they have not actually built this machine, but he has the chip fully designed and ready for fabrication. This is a stunning breakthrough in the realization of practical DES cracking. BTW-- note that PEM uses straight 56-bit DES. -prz Forwarded message: >From prz Wed Sep 1 14:11:48 1993 >Message-Id: <9309012010.AA10083(a)columbine.cgd.ucar.EDU> >Subject: Re: DES Key Search Paper >To: wiener(a)bnr.ca (Michael) >Date: Wed, 1 Sep 93 14:10:18 MDT >From: Philip Zimmermann <prz(a)columbine.cgd.ucar.EDU> >Cc: prz (Philip Zimmermann) >In-Reply-To: <"15836 Wed Sep 1 12:14:00 1993"@bnr.ca>; from "Michael" at Aug 31, 93 11:32 am >X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL0] > >Thanks, Michael. Your paper was the most important paper presented >at Crypto93, in my opinion. It drove a wooden stake thru DES's heart. > >$1 million - 3.5 hours >$10 miliion - 20 minutes >$100 million - 2 minutes > >It is not plausible to me that NSA's budget for examining DES-encrypted >traffic is less than $100 million. Two minutes. Damn. Two fucking >minutes. DES is dead, dead, dead. > >Regards, >Philip > > Rat <ratinox(a)ccs.neu.edu> Northeastern's Stainless Steel Rat PGP Public Key Block available upon request Ask about rat-pgp.el v1.61 ||||| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||| An it harm none, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

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Re: Viacrypt export?
by smb＠research.att.com 09 Sep '93

09 Sep '93

Alex> Why would people in Europe want to buy an exported Alex> Viacrypt when it's completely legal for them to use PGP, Alex> which is free and which is built from published source Alex> code? I wouldn't, but most corporations don't like purchasing software without the safety blanket of commercial support. (At least in the states. I assume it's the same in europe.) It's not a matter of a safety blanket, it's where you choose to spend your time and effort. A well-supported application can easily pay for itself in decreased staff time.

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Opportunities in Cyberspace
by tcmay＠netcom.com 09 Sep '93

09 Sep '93

Crypto Rebels, Here's a piece I wrote for another mailing list, the Extropians list, which about 20 of you are already on (a guess). I make some points about the importance of strong crypto for the "colonization of cyberspace." I start out by commenting on a thread about the Libertarian Party, which I know many of you have no interest in (not that I have much interest, either). Forwarded message: To: Extropians(a)extropy.org From: tcmay(a)netcom.com (Timothy C. May) Message-Id: <9309090128.AA05763(a)netcom5.netcom.com> Subject: Opportunities in Cyberspace Date: Wed, 8 Sep 93 18:28:16 PDT I agree with everything Nick Szabo says here. A few comments: > These kinds of groups, also ISIL, even LP in its saner moments, > serve an important role in "spreading the meme" -- giving us > the political knowledge that the media and high school Civics classes I don't discount the value of these groups in spreading the memes, providing the support for unpopular beliefs ("You mean others think this way, too?"), and maybe even in providing some alternatives in local elections. The focus of the LP on electoral politics these past 20 years, with little or nothing to show for it, has been misguided, in my opinion. Especially when alternatives exist. > they hate the War on Drugs, etc. Even for the libertarians influential > writers like Rand, Heinlein, etc. may have played a larger role > than activist groups. Also, implementing crypto-anarchy requires the > activists have speific real-world skills (computer programming, > mathemetics, legal, banking, etc.), so many libertarians might > not be able to contribute without a very large amount of effort. I hate to say it, but I will anyway! Many libertarians I have met over the years are ill-suited to making money in conventional jobs. Many are underemployed, with vague dreams about starting companies or otherwise making it big. Nothing wrong with high hopes and great plans, of course. As Nick says, there are huge opportunities in cyberspace and crypto anarchy. I mean these terms in the loose sense that covers networking, software generation, offshore movements of data and capital, and even things like games. (Sidenote on games: anybody with a lot of time on their hands might want to catch the wave that "3DO" will be. If you don't know what I'm talking about, never mind.) > Many libertarians have limited resources to devote to the idealistic, > altruistic efforts of political activism. These legions should > note that that crypto-anarchy if successful opens up > not only political freedoms but also huge business opportunities. > Governments worldwide confiscate over $3 trillion > every year, and most of those property owners would, given sufficient > marketing, pay a significant fraction of that to avoid said > confiscation. This dwarfs the potential markets from, for > example, ocean colonization by several orders of magnitude. And with "persistent institutions" (investment funds/accounts that can be moved around the world, in pieces that are secure against seizure, crytographically protected), we may see the development of private fortunes that are enormous. If a wealthy person believes he can hide his assets and have them grow even after his death, with some of the proceeds funding things he now has interest in (and thinks may help him to be reanimated....nanotech, cryonics, more crypto, etc.), then some very large fortunes may flow into such channels. Such large pools/accounts can take "the long view," funding very risky, high-payoff projects. Sort of like the "rich old men" so common in Heinlein's world. As Nick noted--and as Duncan Frisell and others have noted--the stakes in avoiding taxes are enormous...trillions of dollars a year. The colonization of cyberspace--the real next frontier--is well underway. Within 10 years, graphics computers and Net bandwidths will be high enough to support a much better illusion of a "real space" (virtual reality, "True Names"-type spatial methaphors, more abstract spatial metaphors, etc.). And the Nets will be the cutting edge for debate about the nature of "government"....many of us believe governing such nets by governments will be impossible. But the groundwork is being laid...and the whole Libertarian Party debate is increasingly irrelevant. One real world intrusion could be the outright banning of strong crypto, with government-approved ciphers mandated. At the Worldcon I mentioned recently, Whit Diffie, the principal inventor of public key cryptography, outlined his scenario for a government ban on strong crypto: the government offers the Clipper/Skipjack key escrow system, they they argue that criminals and terrorists are using crypto, and they then make it a crime to use unapproved crypto. The principle enforcement mechanism is the fear of losing one's home, car, and business through the civil forfeiture process, as with the drug laws. Anyone with assets, and any business or corporation, will be scared shitless to use unapproved crypto, and so alternatives will dry up (they'll never go away completely, but will be confined to purely criminal use). Such a ban will have a chilling, devastating effect on our privacy, on our ability to set up the cyberspace worlds I have described, and on computer-mediated markets in general. Our immediate goal must be to make sure the "genie is out of the bottle," that enough crypto tools and knowledge are widely disseminated so that such a government ban is futile. Education and lobbying, to kill off the Clipper/Skipjack, is also important. > Yet the startup costs for crypto-anarchy are much smaller, mostly > mastering obscure mathematics, programming skills, computer security, > and legal/business protocols. What skills can you learn now that > will look good on your "BlackNet" resume? Did the BlackNet piece get posted (anonymously, one would hope) to the Extropians list? It's a good demonstration, I think, of the immanency of this crypto anarchy world. In a sense, it reveals that fully anonymous 2-way markets (as in selling Stealth bomber secrets, or arranging hits, or trading financial data...all kinds of strange stuff, of varying degrees of respectability) are already a reality. > I should also take this opportunity to plug the cypherpunks mailing > list (cypherpunks-request(a)toad.com) and the cypherpunks meeting > computing up at Cygnus Support on Saturday, September 11th, 12 noon. > Crypto-anarchy is an area where libertarian hackers, lawyers, businessmen, > etc. can make a vast difference in the future of our political landscape. Yes, try to make this meeting if you live in the High Beyond (aka Bay Area). I'll be speaking on this "crypto arms race" that I see coming. Others will speak on goals, plans, new software, etc. > prohibitive, and (3) we are a small minority so we almost always lose. > Many people can have a vastly larger effect on politics by > starting businesses (where is a libertarian-freindly news service > or cable TV channel?), volunteering to help implement crypto-anarchy, > writing the next _Atlas Shrugged_, operating mailing lists, and > posting good libertarian essays to the net. Don't discount the latter -- > talk.politics.misc will likely have over 50,000 readers this > fall, a larger readership than the number of subscribers to _Liberty_ > and _Reason_ combined. Well, I'm doing my best on at least a couple of these points. Crypto anarchy is of course my special interest, and the novel I am still working on (sigh!) is/was ostensibly a "better 'Atlas Shrugged'", or so I am hoping (but please don't ask me for progress reports...I get very grumpy indeed when the first thing people ask is "How's the novel going?"). And, like most of you, I write essays to various lists and groups. One thing I haven't done is to fund a start-up company, or invest in one, but I am getting the itch to do something along these lines. A lot of billionaires will come out of the developments of the next decade or two; in many ways, there are more opportunities with the globabilization of information flows than there were with personal computers. Several Extropians/Cypherpunks I know of have some potentially exciting business ideas brewing. Don't change the channel, you might miss something exciting. -Tim May -- .......................................................................... 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 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Note: I put time and money into writing this posting. I hope you enjoy it.

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Re: Remailing
by nobody＠rebma.rebma.mn.org 09 Sep '93

09 Sep '93

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Would it be possible to incorporate a ping into the remailer? Say > give it a list of known remailers for the chain and have it pick one > at random, then ping it. If the remailer responds then send out the > mail, otherwise pick a new remailer, and repeat.... One possible problem is that the final destination must then be available to every remailer. Say I construct an appropriate header consisting of nested encryptions, and I use it to send a letter from me -> A -> B -> C -> destination where A, B, C are the remailers I chose. Say that there are a total of 10 remailers in the universe that are known. Here, A knows me and B, B knows A and C, and C knows B and destination. However, if A chooses a random remailer from [A-J], then it must somehow make available the final destination to all of the remailers, since there is a chance that the next hop will be destination. Now instead of C knowing the final destination, [A-J] do. Even if I made C the "final" hop (and it will then forward to destination), then I have to make C known to all the remailers, where before only B knew C. Besides, some people may have set up anonymous remailers that aren't public or haven't been announced. <klbarrus(a)owlnet.rice.edu> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLI1bsIOA7OpLWtYzAQHVaQP/cU7PYUkcM32WqE4oyFc4AzFEHFih/SlU UF4Z0utxAhQU4rKEi9FFW582Hasm7Bq3HYjW8cWOlwCbghWejxWMiw1J+W3u8MBG XvWER2TtDid8FN1fyj8Pf8sx6OeJ59aTkgGCJ3SjHTIVaU5y/Z1Z4mqGm49tIFBi 6OMh2r+lA7g= =C7BC -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Remailing
by frc%bwnmr4＠harvard.harvard.edu 09 Sep '93

09 Sep '93

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Would it be possible to incorporate a ping into the remailer? Say give it a list of known remailers for the chain and have it pick one at random, then ping it. If the remailer responds then send out the mail, otherwise pick a new remailer, and repeat.... Or this there a flaw in this that I'm just too ignorant to see? FRC -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLI0UtbbAlE4AqlTZAQEtTQP/SZlTdkSn+fwiO13SybCHGArjWPpl+xg8 CnSxgw7coYUWdMUU/kwnCQWuLKVsZigcLQmlm1SUvvf6MADmkENF1A0V1Q7kej7Q CCHEjvKA78oHAFBjw3b/BuBAGIibtuGubrSDp/65fe3jF2obDwK4mJqSlD9dcWLC SzU58NCnl9M= =zmFE -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: ViaCrypt export?
by wcs＠anchor.ho.att.com 09 Sep '93

09 Sep '93

Felix Ungman felix(a)hu.se asks? > Will ViaCrypt consider exporting pgp? (well, I think I can guess the answer ;-) > However, pgp is already widely used outside USA (at least as many as > the US users, I suspect). It would be interesting to know what they're going > to do about it. There exists no country boundaries in cyberspace, you know! I would guess that they're not willing to put up with the export law nonsense required to export the product. (If they do, more power to them!) If the offensive export-prevention laws weren't there, and if other governments didn't have offensive import-harassment and crypto-harassment laws, then they'd probably decide whether they could make enough money by providing a supported product and pretty manuals to people who can get the net-version free, just as companies like Cygnus are providing commercial support for free GNUware. However, governments have not yet realized that they're obsolete, so you folks won't have that option. :-( Bill Stewart, wcs(a)anchor.att.com Physical-Address: North America, right hand coast, near the middle.

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Interested in setting up (or joining!) local group in Utah.
by Andrew Corradini/SBDC 08 Sep '93

08 Sep '93

Having been recently acquainted with cypherpunkography, I have been rolling around the idea of setting up a local group rather like the original in Cal. Lest ye laugh, Utah happens to be a heckuva place to worry about privacy, intrusion, et al...although it comes from both having a fairly silly state government (they're finally trying to strike down a law which automatically invalidates any marriage in which one of the partners has AIDS..., fer example), and the fact that many here feel that the aura of the Mormon church is somewhat weighty -- no comment either way, just pointing it out... ANYWAY, if there are any other cypherUtahns on the list interested in getting together monthly or so for an evening of pizza, beer, Jolt, milk, potentially subversive activity, and cookies (wonder if the NSA monolith dropped a flag on that one ;-) ... drop me a line. I know of at least 4 very talented and potentially committable persons who'd also be highly interested. My girlfriend, OTOH, will most likely roll her eyes, call me a geek, and head for the shoe department at Nordstrom. Also of potential interest, my BBS has a couple of areas on cryptography, other "Sneakers"-type issues, as well as VR, cyberspace, and programming. Drop by sometime: SENSE/NET (801) 364-6227 2400-9600 Andrew asc7556(a)u.cc.utah.edu NOTE: my opinions are too silly to be shared by my employer.

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CHAUM CHIMES IN
by Sandy 08 Sep '93

08 Sep '93

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT Reply to: ssandfort(a)attmail.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Punksters, For those of you who live in darkness (i.e., don't read THE ECONOMIST), here is a letter to the editor from David Chaum, in the most recent issue: SIR--Your leader, "No hiding place", and article, "Big brother is clocking you" (August 7th), are to be commended for focusing attention on the exploding threat to privacy being created by piece-meal adoption of intrusive systems, such as automated road tolling. Proposing systems designed around pre-paid smart cards as the solution is, however, somewhat misleading. In French pay phones, Danish vending machines, and in fact all large-scale uses today, such cards must identify themselves during each transaction. Even though your name is not on the card, it represents an erosion of privacy over the coins it replaces. If you are once identified by even a single transaction, such as when you reload the card from your bank account, all your transaction details are linked to your identity. A rare few systems, however, truly do protect privacy. They need not cost more, weaken security, or be harder to use. The technology is described in my article in /Scientific American/, "Achieving Electronic Privacy" (August 1992). A smart card version has already been demonstrated for road tolls by the Dutch government. And CAFE, a project sponsored by the EC, is designing an electronic wallet that literally will, as you recommend, "leave as much control as possible in the hands of individuals." /Amsterdam/ DAVID CHAUM Of course, the next letter to the editor calls for the adoption of systems to track every vehicle at all times. The genius who wrote the letter, thinks it would be a good way to prevent nuclear, biological or chemical terrorism. Geeeeez. S a n d y >>>>>> Please send e-mail to: ssandfort(a)attmail.com <<<<<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Privacy Advocate Position, Madison, Wisconsin
by gnu 08 Sep '93

08 Sep '93

Job postings for cypherpunks, yet! John From: oravec(a)cs.wisc.edu (Jo Ann Oravec) Subject: Privacy Advocate Position, Madison, Wisconsin Date: Mon, 6 Sep 93 09:48:43 -0500 To the Electronic Frontier Association: The following job opening announcement will appear as an ad in September 12 Wisconsin newspapers and in various other vehicles. It may be of interest to many people who have ties to the EFF. (Wisconsin residency is NOT a requirement for the position!) Please disseminate the announcement as broadly as possible: Privacy Advocate... Madison, Wisconsin The State of Wisconsin is seeking a person responsible for support and advocacy in development and implementation of state and local government policies that protect personal privacy. This position reports to the Privacy Council. Background in business and government application of information technology. Salary $33,000 per year plus excellent benefits. Applicants should submit a detailed resume and a statement outlining their perspectives and approaches to privacy concerns to Mary Becker (608-266-0058, FAX 608-264-9500), Department of Administration, 9th Floor, 101 E. Wilson, P.O. Box 7869, Madison, WI 53707-7869. Materials must be received before 4:30 PM on September 27, 1993. thanks-- Jo Ann Oravec Chair, State of Wisconsin Privacy Council

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Second Annual Cypherpunks Conference
by hughes＠ah.com 08 Sep '93

08 Sep '93

ANNOUNCEMENT ============ Second Annual Cypherpunks Conference Saturday, September 11, 1993 12:00 noon Cygnus Support, Mt. View, California, USA One hear ago this month, the first cypherpunks meeting was held in Oakland, CA. Therefore, the September Bay Area meeting is megalomaniacally named The Second Annual Cypherpunks Conference and Banquet (but really, we'll just go out to dinner afterwards like normal.) The theme this year is Where are my turnips? Visions of cypherpunk futures and Paths to implementation Agenda ------ In no particular order -- Tim May, "We are in a cryptographic arms race." -- Other visionary statements from other attendees -- Inspirational reading from _Temporary Autonomous Zone_ written by Hakim Bey. -- An as-yet unverified presentation on patent law. I encourage people to prepare short position statements to be read aloud at the meeting. Topics should center around what you want out of a cypherpunk future and how you'd go about getting there. Tim has already explicitly scheduled his time; others may do so as well by sending me mail (hughes(a)ah.com) Eric Hughes DIRECTIONS ========== [Directions to Cygnus provided by John Gilmore. -- EH] Cygnus Support 1937 Landings Drive Mt. View, CA 94043 +1 415 903 1400 switchboard +1 415 903 1418 John Gilmore Take US 101 toward Mt. View. From San Francisco, it's about a 40-minute drive. Get off at the Rengstorff Ave/Amphitheatre Parkway exit. If you were heading south on 101, you curve around to the right, cross over the freeway, and get to a stoplight. If you were heading north on 101, you just come right off the exit to the stoplight. The light is the intersection of Amphitheatre and Charleston Rd. Take a right on Charleston; there's a right-turn-only lane. Follow Charleston for a short distance. You'll pass the Metaphor/Kaleida buildings on the right. At a clump of palm trees and a "Landmark Deli" sign, take a right into Landings Drive. At the end of the road, turn left into the complex with the big concrete "Landmark" sign. Follow the road past the deli til you are in front of the clock tower that rises out of one of the buildings, facing you. Enter through the doors immediately under the clock tower. They'll be open between noon and 1PM at least. (See below if you're late.) Once inside, take the stairs up, immediately to your right. At the top of the stairs, turn right past the treetops, and we'll be in 1937 on your left. The door is marked "Cygnus". If you are late and the door under the clock tower is locked, you can walk to the deli (which will be around the building on your left, as you face the door). Go through the gate in the fence to the right of the deli, and into the back lawns between the complex and the farm behind it. Walk forward and right around the buildings until you see a satellite dish in the lawn. Go up the stairs next to the dish, which are the back stairs into the Cygnus office space. We'll prop the door (or you can bang on it if we forget). Or, you can find the guard who's wandering around the complex, who knows there's a meeting happening and will let you in. They can be beeped at 965 5250, though you'll have trouble finding a phone. Don't forget to eat first, or bring food at noon! I recommend hitting the burrito place on Rengstorff (La Costen~a) at about 11:45. To get there, when you get off 101, take Rengstorff (toward the hills) rather than Amphitheatre (toward the bay). Follow it about ten blocks until the major intersection at Middlefield Road. La Costen~a is the store on your left at the corner. You can turn left into the narrow lane behind the store, which leads to a parking lot, and enter by the front door, which faces the intersection. To get to the meeting from there, just retrace your route on Rengstorff, go straight over the freeway, and turn right at the stoplight onto Charleston; see above. See you there! John Gilmore

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