December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Notes on xmodn...
by Jim choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

n 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 nmod5 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 mult5 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 mod3 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 mult3 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 mod3mod5 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 mult 3/5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 mod5mod3 0 1 2 0 1 0 1 2 0 1 0 mult 5/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 I am interested in the behaviour of the modamodb and mult a/b. I have been unable to find any kind of work along this line...

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(None)
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dave Otto <dave(a)marvin.jta.edd.ca.gov> writes: > ! While they are aware that software for secure encryption is > ! available from non-US, they are making a best effort to prevent > ! a standard from emerging, while hoping that some escrowed > ! encryption scheme will gain acceptance. This is a critically dangerous statement of intent. What we are seeing here the the US government running scared when they consider the fact that they won't be able to pry into our lives without asking permission (IE: for our keys) first. Now it all makes sense. If ever they've sealed their own fate, now is the most damnable time. If only they realized how zealously we will guard our encryption rights before saying something so incriminating, perhaps they would have come up with a better excuse. I don't get active in many things, but, alas, my time of complacency is over. If the pen is mightier than the sword, perhaps a Bic will level Congress. --Jeff -- ====== ====== +----------------jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us----------------+ == == | The new, improved, environmentally safe, bigger, better,| == == -= | faster, hypo-allergenic, AND politically correct .sig. | ==== ====== | Now with a new fresh lemon scent! | PGP Key Available +---------------------------------------------------------+

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Let us attack Clipper
by Ben.Goren＠asu.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

No, not with words, as we're all so fond of doing. Instead, I suggest that the NSA or others provide free access to an EES system on the 'net, for any and all to attempt attacks. They could hook up a workstation or two with a couple Tessera cards, and provide anonymous login access. All functions should be permitted as they will be in a final implementation. This is an inexpensive way that EES advocates can permit access to the system for analysis. It would be only for research purposes--there'd be no way to encrypt a phone conversation, and anybody would have to be stupid to encrypt sensitive data with an NSA-owned machine, even assuming you could get the data to the computer securely in the first place. To the NSA agent who is surely subscribed: if Clipper is so great, prove it. If you won't disclose the Skipjack algorithm (but why not if it's secure?), at least provide access to test its implementation. b& -- Ben.Goren(a)asu.edu, Arizona State University School of Music net.proselytizing (write for info): Protect your privacy; oppose Clipper. Voice concern over proposed Internet pricing schemes. Stamp out spamming. Finger ben(a)tux.music.asu.edu for PGP 2.3a public key.

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Another Cellular Victim
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I'm watching (presumably) OJ being persued live on CNN. They report that he was tracked via his cellphone use. What this country needs is a good anonymous cellphone net. DCF "When entrenching tools are outlawed, only outlaws will have entrenching tools." --- WinQwk 2.0b#1165

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Re: Another Cellular Victim
by Jef Poskanzer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>They report that he was tracked via his cellphone use. What this country >needs is a good anonymous cellphone net. Really. And what's more: when the Colombian drug lord was located via his cellular use, the story was that the NSA had to bring special equipment into the country to do the tracking. That doesn't wash here. It looks like at least some switches in Amerika are already equipped to read out locations for individual phones. They probably don't even have to wait for you to make a call - they can call you, or even use the phone's automatic pings. --- Jef

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Tracking cellular phones (OJ reference)
by Michael Wilson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

About the earlier note on tracking cell phones. It isn't hard. In fact, the network HAS TO do it, essentially. A cell phone has a pager in it that signals when it is getting a call, what cell to go for, and frequencies (check out the old Bell System Technical Journals from when cell technology was a research project at what is now Ameritech). Cell receiver stations are arranged in a hex about 8 miles on a face. When a signal gets weak (it can tell signal strengths), the phone is handed off to a better cell; it can go a good round of local cells until it actually hits a stronger receiver site. Using this, you can bounce the phone around to different cell receivers, test signal strength (none of this actually activates the phone, it is part of the standard polling), and get a fairly good fix on location. After that it is simply a matter of flooding the area with enough black and whites to find the phone (in this case, the car that OJ was driving around in, which they did pick up from a helo). No real need for special gear, other than what it might take to track a signal through triangulation on a local basis; standard FCC gear for hunting pirate radio and video bands, and easily available for law enforcement. So think of your cell phone as a leash, 'cause that's what it is. Anyone else notice a serious *lack* of usage of cyberpunk style journalism in this one? Scanners to track police, listening in on 911 reports, hunting down the local cell phones to listen to them, a directional mic to hear negotiations. The local LAPD didn't even know how to pull the number of their own cell phone. Back to lurking... ;) [A special note to our friends in the intelligence community out there... Tag, you're it! With love, The Nemesis Group]

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ADMIN: List Software Upgrade Warning
by hugh＠ecotone.toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This is a "two birds with one stone" message, testing the new version of MajorDomo that I just installed and telling you folks that if you have any strange problems with the list to please contact me about them. ||ugh Daniel Sometimes Postmaster hugh(a)toad.com

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Re: Prime magnitude and keys...a ?
by ghio＠cmu.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jim choate <ravage(a)bga.com> wrote: | No, again it will allow you to find the secret key, it will not | provide any information about the factors of that number. It might | be used for that but as you have pointed out, it takes a long time. Okay, obviously neither you or Perry know what you're talking about, or you are too busy flaming each other to express your thoughts coherently. Finding the secret key WILL allow you to factor the modulus (assuming you know the public key). Therefore, solving for the secret exponent is equivilent to factoring. This has been discussed before. I thought you have been on the list long enuff to remember it, but it is obviously necessary to restate the explanation for those who haven't seen it before. Assume we have: Two (unknown) prime numbers p and q, a known modulus n, where n is the product of p and q, and known public key exponent e. Now, suppose someone discovers the corresponding secret key d. Now assuming the case where de=(p-1)(q-1)+1, we have two equations with two unknowns: pq = n de = (p-1)(q-1) + 1 Solving for p and q is simply a matter of solving simeltaneous equations. First, we rewrite the second equation: de = pq - p - q + 2 Now we substitute the known values for de and pq and do some simple algebra: p = n - de + 2 - q Substitute p in the original equation: q(n-de+2-q) = n q(n-de+2) - qq = n -qq + q(n-de+2) - n = 0 qq - q(n-de+2) + n = 0 Now solve for q using the quadratic formula. q=((n-de+2)+((n-de+2)^2-4)^(.5))/2 P can then be found (of course) by dividing n by the now-known value for q. Now, there is the possibility that (p-1)(q-1)+1 will not equal d*e. However, d*e will always be equal to k(p-1)(q-1)+1 where k is an interger. Given PGP's fondness for using 17 for d, and since e < (p-1)(q-1) then de < 17(p-1)(q-1), therefore k<17. It would therefore be fairly easy to find k, since it could only be one of sixteen possible values. Furthermore, (and more importantly), it is not necessary to know the prime factorization to generate key pairs. It is only necessary to know a valid number of the form k(p-1)(q-1). You can find an inverse key for any public key just by finding its multiplicative inverse modulo k(p-1)(q-1) (k, p, & q do not need to be known.) Therefore, if you find one keypair, you can find them all.

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"Thomas A Douglas", do you mind?
by gtoal＠an-teallach.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Whoever it is on illuminati.io.com forging mail to cslaw with a return address of cypherpunks, kindly fuck off, and remember you're not the only person from io.com who reads this group. This sort of trivial forgery is easy to track down if anyone could be bothered. G > The original message was received at Fri, 17 Jun 1994 13:45:53 -0500 > from illuminati.io.com [198.4.60.10] > ----- The following addresses had delivery problems ----- > <cslaw(a)pericles.com> (transient failure) > Return-Path: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > Received: from (illuminati.io.com [198.4.60.10]) by wuarchive.wustl.edu (8.6.8.1/8.6.4) with SMTP id NAA20107 for <cslaw(a)pericles.com>; Fri, 17 Jun 1994 13:45:53 -0500 > Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 13:45:53 -0500 > From: cypherpunks(a)toad.com ^ Not funny. > Message-Id: <199406171845.NAA20107(a)wuarchive.wustl.edu> > Subject: Green card information, please. > Apparently-To: <cslaw(a)pericles.com> > I am interested in your services. Please send me more information. Thank you. > ----- > Thomas A. Douglas > "Just another bump on the Information Superhighway." Perhaps he forgot to remove his sig file, on the other hand there is no-one obviously called Douglas on illuminati.

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Re: Another Cellular Victim
by Phil G. Fraering 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I was on a trip out of town a while back... as soon as I crossed into another cellular network boundary, I got a call from the provider's sales droid, telling me how to use their service. They _are_ tracking individual phone movement, IMHO. pgf

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