May 2002 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: How can i check the authenticity of a private key
by Major Variola (ret) 31 May '02

31 May '02

At 05:30 AM 5/31/02 -0700, surinder pal singh makkar wrote: >Hi List, > >I am a newbie in cryptography. What I have learnt till >now is that in assymeric cryptography scenario we have >a private key and we generate the public key >corresponding to it and then we send it to the central >agency. Correcting: You generate a key-pair, then you decide which half to keep secret. You publish the other half, where publish means gives to known associates. Or if you like encrypted spam, you publish to a well-known repository. You may repeat this and use different key-pairs with different groups of correspondents. >Suppose after sometime I have a private key and the >public key. Is there some software tool which can tell >me whether the public key is the same corresponding to >the private key I am having. Yes: encrypt a message using KeyA and decrypt with KeyB. If it decrypts, they are matching. Or you are extraordinarily unlucky :-) Generally the wrong key will decrypt to noise. Also is there some tool >which can tell me whether the keys have been curropted >or not Tools might include self-integrity info (CRCs, hashes, etc.) in their file formats; YMMV. If any bits in either half of the key data are changed, you lose.

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Re: PKI: Only Mostly Dead
by Anonymous 31 May '02

31 May '02

[Trying to get this posted to the moderated cryptography list...] Peter Gutmann should be declared an international resource. With one foot in the commercial world, one in the government world and one in the cypherpunk world, he has a rare perspective on the big security issues. His irreverance, iconoclasm, frankness and humor make his essays a joy to read. Having said that, his recent analysis[1] falls prey to the conventional wisdom in certain respects. This gives him a curious blindness which contrasts with his usual clear vision. He scrupulously shines his light on all the dirty corners which the powers-that-be would like to keep hidden, all the while ignoring the elephant standing in the middle of the room. First is the fundamental claim that PKI is not working. Peter goes into detail about all the problems that are keeping PKI from success: CRLs, user interface problems, cost issues, etc. It's a sad litany of failure. Only one little thing mars this picture. PKI IS A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS WHICH IS USED EVERY DAY BY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. Of course this is in reference to the use of public key certificates to secure ecommerce web sites. Every one of those https connections is secured by an X.509 certificate infrastructure. That's PKI. One might even go so far as to say that PKI saved the internet, by allowing people to engage in commerce without fear. People have been trained to look for the lock icon which tells them that they have a secure connection and can safely enter their credit card information. Certainly it is true that the internet today would be vastly different if we did not have a deployed, successful, and heavily utilized public key infrastructure. Any discussion of PKI's supposed failure ought to at least recognize that it has been an overwhelming success in this extremely important market segment. Another, less fundamental but equally annoying, blind spot is Peter's allegience to what is conventional wisdom in certain circles, namely that global names do not exist. It's one thing for Carl Ellison to make such a claim; after all, he's worn his SPKI blinders for so long that they have practically grafted themselves onto his head. But someone like Peter ought to be capable of a little more independent thought. Peter even goes so far as to refer to "a locally unique identifier such as an email address." Anyone who would refer to an email address as being only locally unique is blinding himself most carefully. The truth is that we are surrounded by globally unique identifiers and we use them every day. URLs, email addresses, DNS host names, Freenet selection keys, ICQ numbers, MojoIDs, all of these are globally unique! "pgut001(a)cs.auckland.ac.nz" is a globally unique name; you can use that address from anywhere in the world and it will get to the same mailbox. The existence of globally unique identifiers may not fit into some people's ideology but it is a matter of fact all the same. And likewise with the fact that there are extremely important areas where PKI has been massively successful. Let's hope that Peter's legendary clear vision will allow him to pierce the orthodoxy that comes from his friends as easily as that which comes from outsiders. === [1] http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/notdead.zip

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Insight on the News Email Edition
by Insight on the News 31 May '02

31 May '02

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reply soon
by MR.IFEANYI DANIELS 31 May '02

31 May '02

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RE: FC: Hollywood wants to plug "analog hole," regulate A-D conve rters
by Trei, Peter 31 May '02

31 May '02

> ---------- > From: Nomen Nescio[SMTP:nobody@dizum.com] > Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2002 12:20 AM > To: cryptography(a)wasabisystems.com; cypherpunks(a)lne.com > Subject: Re: FC: Hollywood wants to plug "analog hole," regulate A-D > converters > > Peter Trei writes: > > My mind has been boggled, my flabbers have been ghasted. > > > > In the name of protecting their business model, the MPAA > > proposes that every analog/digital (A/D) converter - one of > > the most basic of chips - be required to check for US > > government mandated copyright flags. Quite aside from > > increasing the cost and complexity of the devices many, > > manyfold, it eliminates the ability of the US to compete > > in the world electronics market. > > This is absurd. In all the commentary on this issue, no one has made > the obvious point that the MPAA has no interest or intention in putting > watermark detectors into every ADC chip! They don't care about the ADC > chip in a digital thermometer or even a cell phone. All they care about > are things like PC video capture cards, which are high fidelty consumer > devices capable of digitizing copyright protected content. > > Their white paper is a brief summary of their goals and intentions and > does not go into full technical detail. But let's use a little common > sense here, folks. > This is the actual paragraph that people are refering to: [from http://judiciary.senate.gov/special/content_protection.pdf] - start quote - The primary means to address this issue, dubbed the "analog hole", is via embedded watermarks (which have additional applications as will be discussed below). In order to help plug the hole, watermark detectors would be required in all devices that perform analog to digital conversions. In such devices (e.g., PC video capture cards), the role of the watermark detector would be to detect the watermark and ensure that the device responds appropriately. - end quote - Note that is refers to "all devices that perform analog to digital conversions". I agree that compromising all a/d chip is probably not what the MPAA had in mind (their example is a video capture card, a much more complex beast), but overbroad language has gotten into too many laws for me to have any faith that it can't happen again. What's going to happen when someone publishes plans to remove the restrictions from a compromised vidcap card, and explains how to mail order standard DACs? Will trafficing in DAC chips become a DMCA violation? > It's pointless to try to shoot down this proposal by raising all these > horror stories about ADC chips in industrial and technical devices > being crippled by a watermark detector which will never be activated. > If you waste time developing this line of argument, you will be left > with nothing to say when the actual bill focuses only on the specific > devices that the content holders are worried about. > [...] > Please, let's use some common sense and not go overboard with an obviously > mistaken interpretation of the MPAA's intentions. That wastes everyone's > time. > I agree that the MPAA's reccomendation is laughable, but stupidity has never stopped politicians from passing laws. Peter Trei

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(no subject)
by JOSEPH EDWARD 31 May '02

31 May '02

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL & URGENT. I am Mr, Joseph Edward a native of Cape Town in South Africa and I am an Executive Accountant with the South Africa MINISTRY OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY First and foremost, I apologized using this medium to reach you for a transaction/business of this magnitude, but this is due to Confidentiality and prompt access reposed on this medium. I have decided to seek a confidential co-operation with you in the execution of the deal described Hereunder for the benefit of all parties and hope you will keep it as a top secret because of the nature of this transaction. Within the Department of Mining & Natural Resources where I work as an Executive Accountant and with the cooperation of four other top officials, we have in our possession as overdue payment bills totaling Twenty - One Million, Five Hundred Thousand U. S. Dollars ($21,500,000.) which we want to transfer abroad with the assistance and cooperation of a foreign company/individual to receive the said fund on our behalf or a reliable foreign non-company account to receive such funds. More so, we are handicapped in the circumstances, as the South Africa Civil Service Code of Conduct does not allow us to operate offshore account hence your importance in the whole transaction. This amount $21.5m represents the balance of the total contract value executed on behalf of my Department by a foreign contracting firm, which we the officials over-invoiced deliberately. Though the actual contract cost have been paid to the original contractor, leaving the balance in the Tune of the said amount which we have in principles gotten approval to remit by Key tested Telegraphic Transfer (K.T.T) to any foreign bank account you will provide by filing in an application through the Justice Ministry here in South Africa for the transfer of rights and privileges of the former contractor to you. I have the authority of my partners involved to propose that should you be willing to assist us in the transaction, your share of the sum will be 25% of the $21.5 million, 70% for us and 5% for taxation and miscellaneous expenses. The business itself is 100% safe, on your part provided you treat it with utmost secrecy and confidentiality. Also your area of specialization is not a hindrance to the successful execution of this transaction. I have reposed my confidence in you and hope that you will not disappoint me. Endeavor to contact me immediately my e-mail address whether or not you are interested in this deal. If you are not, it will enable me scout for another foreign partner to carry out this deal I want to assure you that my partners and myself are in a position to make the payment of this claim possible provided you can give us a very strong Assurance and guarantee that our share will be secured and please remember to treat this matter as very confidential matter, because we will not comprehend with any form of exposure as we are still in active Government Service and remember once again that time is of the essence in this business. I wait in anticipation of your fullest co-operation. Yours faithfully, JOSEPH EDWARD

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None
by JOSEPH EDWARD 31 May '02

31 May '02

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL & URGENT. I am Mr, Joseph Edward a native of Cape Town in South Africa and I am an Executive Accountant with the South Africa MINISTRY OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY First and foremost, I apologized using this medium to reach you for a transaction/business of this magnitude, but this is due to Confidentiality and prompt access reposed on this medium. I have decided to seek a confidential co-operation with you in the execution of the deal described Hereunder for the benefit of all parties and hope you will keep it as a top secret because of the nature of this transaction. Within the Department of Mining & Natural Resources where I work as an Executive Accountant and with the cooperation of four other top officials, we have in our possession as overdue payment bills totaling Twenty - One Million, Five Hundred Thousand U. S. Dollars ($21,500,000.) which we want to transfer abroad with the assistance and cooperation of a foreign company/individual to receive the said fund on our behalf or a reliable foreign non-company account to receive such funds. More so, we are handicapped in the circumstances, as the South Africa Civil Service Code of Conduct does not allow us to operate offshore account hence your importance in the whole transaction. This amount $21.5m represents the balance of the total contract value executed on behalf of my Department by a foreign contracting firm, which we the officials over-invoiced deliberately. Though the actual contract cost have been paid to the original contractor, leaving the balance in the Tune of the said amount which we have in principles gotten approval to remit by Key tested Telegraphic Transfer (K.T.T) to any foreign bank account you will provide by filing in an application through the Justice Ministry here in South Africa for the transfer of rights and privileges of the former contractor to you. I have the authority of my partners involved to propose that should you be willing to assist us in the transaction, your share of the sum will be 25% of the $21.5 million, 70% for us and 5% for taxation and miscellaneous expenses. The business itself is 100% safe, on your part provided you treat it with utmost secrecy and confidentiality. Also your area of specialization is not a hindrance to the successful execution of this transaction. I have reposed my confidence in you and hope that you will not disappoint me. Endeavor to contact me immediately my e-mail address whether or not you are interested in this deal. If you are not, it will enable me scout for another foreign partner to carry out this deal I want to assure you that my partners and myself are in a position to make the payment of this claim possible provided you can give us a very strong Assurance and guarantee that our share will be secured and please remember to treat this matter as very confidential matter, because we will not comprehend with any form of exposure as we are still in active Government Service and remember once again that time is of the essence in this business. I wait in anticipation of your fullest co-operation. Yours faithfully, JOSEPH EDWARD

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(no subject)
by JOSEPH EDWARD 31 May '02

31 May '02

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL & URGENT. I am Mr, Joseph Edward a native of Cape Town in South Africa and I am an Executive Accountant with the South Africa MINISTRY OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY First and foremost, I apologized using this medium to reach you for a transaction/business of this magnitude, but this is due to Confidentiality and prompt access reposed on this medium. I have decided to seek a confidential co-operation with you in the execution of the deal described Hereunder for the benefit of all parties and hope you will keep it as a top secret because of the nature of this transaction. Within the Department of Mining & Natural Resources where I work as an Executive Accountant and with the cooperation of four other top officials, we have in our possession as overdue payment bills totaling Twenty - One Million, Five Hundred Thousand U. S. Dollars ($21,500,000.) which we want to transfer abroad with the assistance and cooperation of a foreign company/individual to receive the said fund on our behalf or a reliable foreign non-company account to receive such funds. More so, we are handicapped in the circumstances, as the South Africa Civil Service Code of Conduct does not allow us to operate offshore account hence your importance in the whole transaction. This amount $21.5m represents the balance of the total contract value executed on behalf of my Department by a foreign contracting firm, which we the officials over-invoiced deliberately. Though the actual contract cost have been paid to the original contractor, leaving the balance in the Tune of the said amount which we have in principles gotten approval to remit by Key tested Telegraphic Transfer (K.T.T) to any foreign bank account you will provide by filing in an application through the Justice Ministry here in South Africa for the transfer of rights and privileges of the former contractor to you. I have the authority of my partners involved to propose that should you be willing to assist us in the transaction, your share of the sum will be 25% of the $21.5 million, 70% for us and 5% for taxation and miscellaneous expenses. The business itself is 100% safe, on your part provided you treat it with utmost secrecy and confidentiality. Also your area of specialization is not a hindrance to the successful execution of this transaction. I have reposed my confidence in you and hope that you will not disappoint me. Endeavor to contact me immediately my e-mail address whether or not you are interested in this deal. If you are not, it will enable me scout for another foreign partner to carry out this deal I want to assure you that my partners and myself are in a position to make the payment of this claim possible provided you can give us a very strong Assurance and guarantee that our share will be secured and please remember to treat this matter as very confidential matter, because we will not comprehend with any form of exposure as we are still in active Government Service and remember once again that time is of the essence in this business. I wait in anticipation of your fullest co-operation. Yours faithfully, JOSEPH EDWARD

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2 for 1 & FREE Inkjet Cartridge Offer!
by EAASI 31 May '02

31 May '02

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Re: sources on steganography
by Morlock Elloi 31 May '02

31 May '02

> I am writing my dissertation on steganography. Basically I'm writing a ^^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ You can't fool us. ===== end (of original message) Y-a*h*o-o (yes, they scan for this) spam follows: Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

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