December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Wiping files on compressed disks.
by jpinson＠fcdarwin.org.ec 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I did a few tests on wiping compressed (Stacker) files: Sdir, the Stacker directory command, reported a 900k PKZip file had a compression ratio of 1.0:1 (no compression). I wiped the file using the same character repeatedly, and sdir reported the resultant file had a compression ratio of 15.9:1 I wiped another copy of the zip file using sets of increasing characters (0-255). After this wipe the compression ratio was 8.0:1 Lastly, I wiped the file using random characters, generated using Turboc's random() function. This time, the compression ratio was 1.0:1, the same as the original. Sounds like wiping with random characters may indeed be the way to go to avoid "slack" at the end of the file. One interesting note: When I fragmented the original zip file into 50K segments with a "chop" program, sdir reported that each segment had a compression ratio of 1.1:1, even though the original file showed no compression. When I created 10K segments, I got a compression ratio of 1.6:1 Pkzip however, was unable to compress these file segments at all. I suspect that Stacker is not really compressing these smaller files in the normal sense, but is storing them more efficiently (better sector or cluster size?). Jim Pinson

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cryptocosmology
by Brian D Williams 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Cryptocosmology: sufficently advanced communication is indistinguishable from noise. I really like this! Its kind of a corollary to Clarks (Arthur C that is) third law "Any sufficently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I guess this means that if there are other civilizations out there, and they have Cypherpunks, and they are just a little more advanced, then the people at S.E.T.I. are wasting there time (and to beat Tim to it "our Bucks!") Brian Williams Extropian Cypherpatriot -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLSswbtCcBnAsu2t1AQET7QP/fYzAidhb05NkSJOLNEDHLtclna47n1Im hxRYGgKZGAgkHkM1BfsCCOBNSZehhQ2H36WM6VGs/ZZDHlowrbunfBuEtEWl52Lm rchJPCnpK0Z72M+oTBtDo2V+eUdppTCaLaJ9EEvzLRCaRnpOjhTwFAtmkjKjKhNh mkE9jDlfJlk= =fvQv -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Extropians please excuse the dupe.

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automatic mail scanning software
by Matt Blaze 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I was just cleaning up my office, throwing out a bunch of vendor literature from a recent unixexpo, when a flyer for a product called "MpScan" from an outfit called "CyberSoft" caught my eye. This product, as advertised, "automatically searches outgoing email for company classified material". Aside from being configurable to do stuff like block mail to certain addresses, it also " ...uses the powerful, user-tested CVDL scanning language..." and can generate "...reports which can be used to look for unusual changes in Email usage...". A "version 2" promises "many more feaures using an AI engine". All this can be yours for only $49,000 per mail server, or $200,000 per site license. You get free upgrades until the end of 1997. -matt

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Non-techie Crypto book?
by fnerd＠smds.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Is there a good not-very-technical, but up-to-date book on crypto? An acquaintance asks. -fnerd - - cryptocosmology- sufficiently advanced communication is indistinguishable from noise - god is in the least significant bits -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a aKxB8nktcBAeQHabQP/d7yhWgpGZBIoIqII8cY9nG55HYHgvt3niQCVAgUBLMs3K ui6XaCZmKH68fOWYYySKAzPkXyfYKnOlzsIjp2tPEot1Q5A3/n54PBKrUDN9tHVz 3Ch466q9EKUuDulTU6OLsilzmRvQJn0EJhzd4pht6hSnC1R3seYNhUYhoJViCcCG sRjLQs4iVVM= =9wqs -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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ASAP'94: Call for papers
by cappello＠cs.ucsb.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Since many people withdrew for the holidays, I thought it best to resend the following Call. The Conference attracts those who design/implement special-purpose computing systems. I welcome privately mailed suggestions for either a keynote speaker or an invited speaker (we will have up to 3 invited presentations). Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- A S A P '94 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON APPLICATION-SPECIFIC ARRAY PROCESSORS 22-24 August 1994 The Fairmont Hotel San Francisco Sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society ASAP'94 is an international conference on application- specific computing systems. This conference's lineage traces back to the First International Workshop on Systolic Arrays held in Oxford, England, in July 1986, and has con- tinued through the International Conference on Application- Specific Array Processors held in Venice, Italy, in Oct. 1993. Areas for application-specific computing systems are many and varied. Some samples areas follow: CAD tools; com- putational biology, chemistry, geology, pharmacology, phy- sics, and physiology; cryptography; data base, information retrieval, and compression; electronic commerce; high- performance networks; medical equipment; robotics and prosthetics; signal and image processing. Aspects of application-specific computing systems that are of interest include, but are not limited to: - Application-specific architectures - Application-specific fault tolerance strategies - Application-specific test & evaluation strategies - CAD tools for application-specific systems - Design methodology for application-specific systems - Special-purpose systems for fundamental algorithms - Implementation methodology & rapid prototyping - Standard hardware components & software objects - Systems software: languages, compilers, operating systems The conference will present a balanced technical pro- gram covering the theory and practice of application- specific computing systems. Of particular interest are con- tributions that either achieve large performance gains with application-specific computing systems, introduce novel architectural concepts, present formal and practical methods for the specification, design and evaluation of these sys- tems, analyze technology dependencies and the integration of hardware and software components, or describe and evaluate fabricated systems. The conference will feature an opening keynote address, technical presentations, a panel discussion, and poster presentations. One of the poster sessions is reserved for on-going projects and experimental systems. INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS Please send 5 copies of your double-spaced typed manuscript (maximum 5000 words) with an abstract to a Pro- gram Co-Chair. Your submission letter should indicate which of your paper's areas are most relevant to the conference, and which author is responsible for correspondence. Your paper should be unpublished and not under review for any other conference or workshop. The Proceedings will be published by the IEEE Computer Society Press. CALENDAR OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS 18 Feb. Deadline for receipt of papers. 29 Apr. Notification of authors. 24 Jun. Deadline for receipt of photo-ready paper. 22 Aug. Conference begins. GENERAL CO-CHAIRS Prof. Earl E. Swartzlander, Jr. Prof. Benjamin W. Wah e.swartzlander(a)compmail.com wah(a)manip.crhc.uiuc.edu Electrical & Computer Engineering Coordinated Science Lab. University of Texas University of Illinois Austin, TX 78712 1308 West Main Street Urbana, IL 61801 (512) 471-5923 (217) 333-3516 (512) 471-5907 (Fax) (217) 244-7175 (Fax) PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS Prof. Peter Cappello Prof. Robert M. Owens cappello(a)cs.ucsb.edu owens(a)cse.psu.edu Computer Science Computer Science & Engineering University of California Pennsylvania State Univ. Santa Barbara, CA 93106 University Park, PA 16802 (805) 893-4383 (814) 865-9505 (805) 893-8553 (Fax) (814) 865-3176 (Fax) EUROPEAN PUBLICITY CHAIR Prof. Vincenzo Piuri e-mail piuri(a)ipmel1.polimi.it Dept. of Electronics and Information Politecnico di Milano p.za L. da Vinci 32 I-20133 Milano, Italy +39-2-23993606 +39-2-23993411 (Fax) Please forward this Call to all interested parties.

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Klinton's Gestapo
by an3747＠anon.penet.fi 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From an AP story Jan 4 President Clinton commended the nation's fallen spies and their colleagues of the Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday, saying espionage helped win the Cold War and now is needed to guard against new evils. Addressing hundreds of CIA employees on his first visit to the top-secret agency, Clinton said ``the new world remains dangerous'' as threats of terrorism, ethnic conflict and militant nationalism challenge the intelligence community. About 400 workers crowded the marble lobby of the agency's headquarters; others lined hallways, watching the president's address on TV monitors. The employees applauded several times as Clinton paid tribute to their work at a time when some critics are questioning the agency's role in the post-Cold War era. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help(a)anon.penet.fi. Due to the double-blind, any mail replies to this message will be anonymized, and an anonymous id will be allocated automatically. You have been warned. Please report any problems, inappropriate use etc. to admin(a)anon.penet.fi.

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cryptopolitics:
by Mike Ingle 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

cryptopolitics: Any sufficiently advanced government is indistinguishable from anarchy.

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Butt-Head
by nobody＠rosebud.ee.uh.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

L.A. Times Jan. 3, 1994 p. D1 THAT'S WHAT HE GETS FOR COMPLAINING SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Computer Inc., after receiving a complaint from famed scientist Carl Sagan, has changed the internal code name for an upcoming model to "Butt-Head Astronomer" from "Carl Sagan," the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Sagan asked the company to stop using his name after an article about the new computer appeared in MacWeek magazine, the newspaper said. The Computer is one of three Apple models that will use the PowerPC microprocessor, which was developed by an alliance of Apple, Motorola Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. For those of tender sensibilities, Butt-Head Astronomer will be known as BHA for short. -Bloomberg Business News

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A Crypto Biblio
by Michael Edward Marotta 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

number 006 CLACKER'S DIGEST December 6, 1992. philosophy and applications for analytical engines ------------------------------------------------------------------ (46 lines) A Cryptography Bibliography by mercury(a)well.sf.ca.us (Technically, cryptography is MAKING codes while cryptanalysis is BREAKING them. Both are subsumed under cryptology. A CIPHER is a regular transposition such as A=Z, B=Y, etc., while a CODE is a table of arbitrary symbols.) Kahn, David, THE CODEBREAKERS, MacMillan, 1967. The MOST complete history with specific examples. Written before public keys, RSA, etc., but still THE place to start. Marotta, Michael, THE CODE BOOK, Loompanics, 1987, Overview of history and post-1967 developments. Sinkov, Abraham, ELEMENTARY CRYPTANALYSIS: A MATHEMATICAL APPROACH, Random House, 1968. Sinkov worked for Friedman on the breaking of Purple. First rate. Gaines, Helen Fouche, CRYPTANALYSIS, Dover, 1956. A classic work. The first step to breaking codes and ciphers. Lysing, Henry, SECRET WRITING, Dover, 1974. Another reprint of another classic. Smith, Laurence Dwight, CRYPTOGRAPHY, Dover, 1955. Ditto. Konheim, Alan G., CRYPTOGRAPHY: A PRIMER, John Wiley, 1981. Textbook for mathematicians from IBM's Watson Center. Includes public keys, digital signatures. Meyer, Carl H., and Matyas Stephen M., CRYPTOGRAPHY, John Wiley, 1982. From IBM Cryptography Competency Center. For computers, includes public keys, digital signatures. Weber, Ralph E., UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC CODES AND CIPHERS 1775- 1938, Precedent, 1979. Not just a history! The appendix contains the all the keys!! Chadwick, THE DECIPHERMENT OF LINEAR B, Vintage, 1958. Worked with Michael Ventris on unraveling Minoan script. Yardley, Herbert O., THE AMERICAN BLACK CHAMBER, Ballantine 1981, Random House, 1931. Yardley broke German ciphers in WWI and then Japanese ciphers of 1920, and was fired in 1931 because "Gentlemen don't read each other's mail." (anonymous), THE DATA ENCRYPTION STANDARD, National Bureau of Standards, January 1977, NTIS NBS-FIPS PUB 46. (anonymous), DATA SECURITY AND THE DATA ENCRYPTION STANDARD, National Bureau of Standards, 1978, Pub 500-27; CODEN: XNBSAV. Rivest, Ronald L., Shamir, A., and Adleman, L., "A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-key Cryptosystems," COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM, February, 1979. The last word. -------------------------- 30 ------------------------------------

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AT&T licenses crypto modules
by paul＠poboy.b17c.ingr.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Below is a press release posted by David Arneke of AT&T to the Telecom Digest. It looks like the licensing chain goes RSA -> ISC -> AT&T -> you, but it's encouraging that these libraries are available: they offer good potential for continuing and even accelerating the spread of strong crypto out beyond the bounds of the online world. -Paul AT&T LICENSES LINKABLE CODE FOR SECURE SOFTWARE GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- AT&T is giving software developers access to linkable code modules for encryption, public key exchange and other communications security functions. AT&T announced today that a comprehensive library of linkable code modules, including RSA security technology and the NIST Digital Signature Algorithm, is available for licensing. Linkable code is available in the form of linkable object module libraries and Windows Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs), which are under license from Information Security Corporation of Deerfield, Illinois. [ .. deletia .. ] "Electronic commerce has an inherent requirement for privacy, data integrity, authentication and non-repudiation," said Larry Salter, director of secure systems and services for AT&T Secure Communications Systems. "These capabilities are ideal for PCMCIA and smart-card applications as well as conventional software for PCs and workstations." The package includes code for DES encryption, the ElGamal public key cryptosystem, the Digital Signature Algorithm, the Secure Hash Standard and most RSA security functions, including RSA encryption, key management and digital signatures; MD5 hashing functions; and the Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol. A proprietary encryption algorithm for exportable applications is available as well. More than a dozen military and civilian federal agencies and a growing number of corporations have already licensed the code for new software applications, Salter said. "This is a full range of information security functions, relying on the most widely accepted government and commercial standards," Salter said. Prices for code packages containing DSA technology are $750 for the DOS/Windows version, $1,000 for the Macintosh version and $1250 for the UNIX version. For code packages containing RSA technology are $300 for the DOS/Windows version, $400 for the Macintosh version and $500 for the UNIX version. The license allows developers to load the code into two workstations for software development. Royalty payments are required for distribution of applications to end users. [ .. descriptions of AT&T's shrinkwrapped products deleted .. ] Software developers can get more information on licensing the AT&T linkable code module library by calling the AT&T Secure Communications Customer Service Center, 1 800 203-5563. -- Paul Robichaux, KD4JZG | "Change the world for a better tomorrow. But perobich(a)ingr.com | watch your ass today." - aaron(a)halcyon.com Intergraph Federal Systems | Be a cryptography user- ask me how.

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