December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

iss source
by accom!erc%accom＠uunet.UU.NET 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've been rather swamped by folks asking for the ISS source code, so would anyone mind if I posted it here? It's only 19K tarred, gziped, and uuencoded... -- Ed

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Diffie-Helman example in g++
by cman＠IO.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Here is a little demo using the big Integer routines from libg++ illustrating how Diffie-Hellman key exchange works. Basically, I wanted to prove to myself that it works, and thought others might appreciate it. Doug =============================================================== // Demo of mathematics for Diffie-Hellman type key exchange // // Useful to convince oneself that it really does work and that // a patent on it is pretty silly. // // Douglas Barnes (cman(a)io.com) // // Based on algorithm from Cryptography and Data Security, by Dorothy E. // Denning, 1983, Addison-Wesley. // // Note: you will need to have GNU libg++, or hack it to use big integer // math you do have. #include <stdlib.h> #include <time.h> #include <sys/types.h> #include "Integer.h" Integer& RandBigInt(int bits); Integer& FastExp(Integer& A, Integer& B, Integer& p); #define keysize 644 main() { Integer p; Integer a; Integer XA, XB, K1, KA, KB, YA, YB, T; char state[256]; pow(2, keysize, p); p = p - 1; // Does anyone have a clue what good values of 'a' are in this // algorithm? a = 127; // Set up random stuff initstate(time(0), state, 256); cout << "A and B pick random numbers in the Galois field [0, p - 1]\n"; cout << "where p is (2^" << keysize << ") - 1:\n" << p << "\n"; XA = RandBigInt(keysize); cout << "\nA picks a random secret XA: \n" << XA << "\n"; XB = RandBigInt(keysize); cout << "\nB picks a random secret XB: \n" << XB << "\n"; YA = FastExp(a, XA, p); YB = FastExp(a, XB, p); cout << "\nA gives B a message YA (a^XA mod p): \n" << YA << "\n"; cout << "\nB gives A a message YB (a^XB mod p): \n" << YB << "\n"; KA = FastExp(YB, XA, p); cout << "\nA now knows the key is (YB^XA mod p): \n" << KA << "\n"; KB = FastExp(YA, XB, p); cout << "\nB now knows the key is (YA^XB mod p): \n" << KB << "\n"; cout << "\nComputing the key (which is a^XA^XB mod p) from (a^XA mod p) and\n"; cout << "(a^XB mod p) is equivalent to performing two discrete log calculations;\n"; cout << "the number of steps to perform discrete logs grows exponentially\n"; cout << "in proportion to the # of bits in the field. For a 'p' of 644 bits,\n"; cout << "Denning estimates 1.2 x 10^23 steps.\n"; } // Calculate a^z mod n // // Based on the fact that (a^3 mod n) is the same thing // as: (((a * a) mod n) * a) mod n // // Gets its speed from the fact that, for example, n^18 is the // same as (n^2)^9 Integer& FastExp(Integer& a, Integer& z, Integer& n) { Integer a1, z1, two; static Integer x; a1 = a; z1 = z; x = 1; two = 2; while(z1 != 0) { while((z1 % 2) == 0) { div(z1, two, z1); a1 = (a1 * a1) % n; } z1 = z1 - 1; x = (x * a1) % n; } return x; } // Yes, I know the random stuff is lame. This is a demo. Integer& RandBigInt(int bits) { int i; int randval; static Integer retval; retval = 0; for(i = 0; i<bits; i++) { retval |= (random()&01); lshift(retval, 1, retval); } return retval; }

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This just in..
by owen＠autodesk.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

What an incredible coincidence, this is excerpted from the RISKS digest. LUX ./. owen ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Oct 93 08:40:21 -0700 >>From: Tom Hanrahan <hanrahan(a)sequent.com> Subject: Epitope suit uses computer bulletin board >>From The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), October 7, 1993, by Vince Kohler Epitope Inc. used information subpoenaed from the computer bulletin- board service Prodigy to prepare a $5 million federal lawsuit against a Kidder, Peabody vice president in Kansas City, Mo. Lois Rosenbaum, a lawyer for Epitope, said the company used information from Prodigy Services Co. to track down A. Karl Kipke, who works for Kidder, Peabody in Kansas City, Mo. The lawsuit claims that Kipke used a false name, William Smith, to log onto a Prodigy electronic bulletin board on three occasions in August. Each time, the lawsuit contends, Kipke wrote lengthy commentaries he knew were false and defamatory about Epitope, the company's management practices and its attempts to gain federal approval of an oral device used to detect the AIDS virus. [...] "We certainly believe the price of the stock is lower than it would've been but for these false allegations, Rosenbaum said. "And I think it's clear that the articles were written for the purpose of negatively influencing the price of the stock." [...] Epitope's lawsuit says Kipke and his clients were holders of short positions in Epitope stock. [...] Epitope's lawsuit seeks $5 million in punitive damages from Kipke and alleges defamation, manipulation of security prices, securities fraud and intentional interference with business relations. Rosenbaum acknowledged that the lawsuit's electronic dimension is "a very unusual situation." Submitter note: The omitted sections of text basically say that Kipke was unavailable for comment and explain what holding a "short position" means. -- Tom Hanrahan, hanrahan(a)sequent.com ------------------------------

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Radio, Radio...
by Peter Wayner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I thought it was interesting that people on this net are getting interested in placing a discrete network of spread-spectrum boxes around the area. It turns out that a company, Tetherless Access Limited, is just beginning plans to do this right now. Here is a press release I just got: -Peter

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Sorry about that last message
by Peter Wayner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I didn't mean to append that note about Moscow at the end of the press release. It happened by mistake. You can enjoy it but please delete it afterwards. I've gotten about three copies in the mail through different forwarding paths. -Peter

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Re: The death of the list as we know it (tm)
by Matthew B. Landry 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>We debate this issue every couple of months. Give it up. Or start your >own newsgroup. I'm strongly thinking of doing that. However, I think it would be a shame if we had to operate the newsgroup and the list in paralell, without connections. And frankly, I don't think it would be entirely a disadvantage to have wider exposure. Sure, we would get some more noise (but we're used to noise by now), but we would also get a much larger readership. We would still be preaching to the choir, but we would have a "choir" large enough that it would no longer be a disadvantage. As a compromise solution, perhaps we could have a one-way gateway to a general distribution newsgroup, where posts to the list would automatically go to the newsgroup as well, but posts to the group would only go to the group (unless the person also mailed to the list). The list.cypherpunks group at Msen (where my account was before) was set configured like a moderated group, so all posts got sent to the list, but there's no reason it _has_ to be that way. Really, I think there are ways to solve this so that everyone will get what he needs. -- Matthew B. Landry ml7694a(a)american.edu (Finally!) mbl(a)ml7694a.leonard.american.edu

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Re: The death of the list as we know it (tm)
by Matthew B. Landry 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>I strongly support this idea, so I'll mention a further advantage: >kill files! No more wading through boring message about anonymous >remailers, digital cash an so on (or RSA weaknesses, or >crypto-legality or whatever your personal bug happens to be). I really think that the powers that be should consider the newsgroup idea. The reasoning above is really the best justification, even though I'd personally kill the code and concentrate on the politics, that's just me. Newsreaders really have much better tools for handling this sort of traffic. (Back when my account was on msen.com, the absolute _only_ way I could possibly read this list was through the gateway to list.cypherpunks. My mailbox couldn't handle a subscription, and I was able to concentrate my time on the _good_ stuff instead of the noise.) To the people who say that Usenet has a worse s/n ratio than mail, I have two points. First, not all of Usenet has a bad s/n ratio (and this particular list _does_ have a _very_ bad s/n ratio). Second, the traditionally lower s/n ratio on Usenet has led to the development of better tools to deal with it than are available in mail. (I'd dearly love to see an ignore feature on this list, as I understand that the Extropians have, but I realize that's unrealistic. Even that wouldn't be as effective as a well-designed killfile.) I really think this idea deserves at least serious consideration. -- Matthew B. Landry ml7694a(a)american.edu (Finally!) mbl(a)ml7694a.leonard.american.edu

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wireless LANs
by accom!erc%accom＠uunet.UU.NET 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Well, I've got a wireless LAN up and running at home between my 486/25 and a 386 laptop - it provides uucp/cu connectivity, and I'll be adding SLIP soon. If anyone wants to see it working, let me know - I might be able to lug stuff to the next Cypherpunks meeting. I've had it running for several months now, and it was put together using all off-the-shelf compoments. The controllers cost $110 apiece, the radios are just amateur radio 2m rigs. It runs at 1200 baud, but it's enough to show that the system works, and is reliable. The controllers provide end-to-end reliable transport, so uucico doesn't have to do so much work. cu displays are a bit jerky, but *much* cleaner than on a standard voice-grade (yuck!) PacBell line here. -- Ed

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Re: The death of the list as we know it (tm)
by wcs＠anchor.ho.att.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Another crypto newsgroup would be superfluous - we can talk technical on sci.crypt, politics on talk.politics.crypto, and get away with talking about implementation on sci.crypt, especially if sci.crypt.research gets created to provide a more pure crypto newsgroup. Yes, cypherpunks is already too high volume, but it does serve a purpose, and most of us could hack a forwarder into digesters or local newsgroups to feed our favorite newsreaders if we really wanted to.... Bill

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secure phone quest
by gtoal＠an-teallach.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In article <9310042017.AA26812(a)fegmania.wustl.edu> you write: >vat is available from ftp.ee.lbl.gov. There's no source at the moment >but there are binaries for different architectures. (And the dynamically >linked SunOS 4.1.x versions do work for Solaris 2.x) > >vat is intended for use as a IP multicast multi-user chat program, but I >believe that it is useable for point-to-point communication also. Using >it for IP Multicast may require kernel patches (depending on your OS). There's also nevot, last seen in gaia.cs.umass.edu:~ftp/pub G -- Personal mail to gtoal(a)gtoal.com (I read it in the evenings) Business mail to gtoal(a)an-teallach.com (Be careful with the spelling!) Faxes to An Teallach Limited: +44 31 662 4678 Voice: +44 31 668 1550 x212

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