December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: A practical use of c'punk brain power.
by nobody＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

bogus(a)no.return.address sez: :Greetings c'punks! : I have an Excel 4.0 spreadsheet to which I do not have the password. :Do any of you know a clever way to break the Excel protection either :by divining the password or removing the layer of encryption in the :file? : I reply: Found this on alt.security, you said any help appriciated so here goes. Pleeeeeeeze, no flames. Newsgroups: alt.security From: agriffiths(a)vnet.ibm.com (Alan Griffiths) Subject: Re: Excel pass crack Sender: news(a)hawnews.watson.ibm.com (NNTP News Poster) Message-ID: <CwH0Jo.15sv(a)hawnews.watson.ibm.com> Approved: myself Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 08:21:24 GMT Lines: 103 Reply-To: agriffiths(a)vnet.ibm.com (Alan Griffiths) Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM. References: <Rw+xX1t.cinepott(a)delphi.com> Nntp-Posting-Host: nhbrp75.caanerc.uk.ibm.com Organization: LORAL CAA NERC Project X-Newsreader: IBM NewsReader/2 v1.01 In <Rw+xX1t.cinepott(a)delphi.com>, Bob <cinepott(a)delphi.com> writes: >Someone was looking for a crack to excel's passwords, apparently they >forgot their password ? Well I found these helpful tidbits posted >previously. > >|>Encryption of Ms Excel files >|> From: Fabio Ottolina <fabio(a)tdc.dircon.co.uk> >|> Date: 29 Jan 1994 12:51:18 GMT (1 screen) >|> >|> I have saved an Excel 4.0 for Windows file with password-protection, and >|>I can't remember the password (how remarkably stupid! :-)). >|>Is there any way to crack the password-protection of Excel files? You may find the following program of help. I am sorry it's in QBasic but that's the only free language I have at present. The program removes document protection from Excel worksheets. I haven't tested it extensively so there are no guarantees or warranties. Always keep a backup copy of your files etc... The protection scheme does two things: 1. When you protect your document, Excel hashes your password to a 16 bit value, stores it somewhere and sets a few flags to say that the document is protected. 2. When Excel saves a protected document it encrypts the content of each block using 16 different alphabetic substitutions. This allows Excel to read and display protected documents before knowing their password. The program below unscrambles a protected document, removes an extra 8 byte block at the beginning, and resets the flags and passwords to zero. I don't know if it can cope with all combinations of protection available in Excel. It works fine on the simple protect document option. Similarly, charts etc. will probably get munged since I don't think the titles etc get scrambled. Hope this stuff is of use to someone. Alan. PS. Ironically enough, I found Excel of great value in recovering the set of magic numbers used in the program. It allowed me to very quickly generate and evaluate possible decryption formulae! -------------------cut here------------------------------ DECLARE FUNCTION decrypt$ (c$, adr&, blen%) DEFINT A-Z DIM SHARED magic(15) FOR i = 0 TO 15 READ magic(i) NEXT DATA 196, 115, 164, 32, 60, 91, 212, 23, 240, 31, 40, 19, 240, 75, 180, 3 COLOR 14, 1 CLS INPUT "Enter input Cyphertext filename: ", cf$ INPUT "Enter output Plaintext filename: ", pf$ OPEN pf$ FOR BINARY ACCESS WRITE AS #1 OPEN cf$ FOR BINARY ACCESS READ AS #2 chdr$ = INPUT$(18, #2) phdr$ = LEFT$(chdr$, 10) PUT #1, , phdr$ fp& = 10 cbh$ = INPUT$(4, #2) WHILE NOT EOF(2) PUT #1, , cbh$ blen = ASC(MID$(cbh$, 3, 1)) + 256 * ASC(MID$(cbh$, 4, 1)) btyp = ASC(MID$(cbh$, 1, 1)) + 256 * ASC(MID$(cbh$, 2, 1)) fp& = fp& + 4 IF blen > 0 THEN cblk$ = INPUT$(blen, #2) x$ = decrypt$(cblk$, fp& - 4, blen) IF blen = 2 THEN SELECT CASE btyp CASE 18, 19, 99 x$ = STRING$(2, 0) END SELECT END IF PUT #1, , x$ END IF fp& = fp& + blen cbh$ = INPUT$(4, #2) WEND CLOSE #1 CLOSE #2 END FUNCTION decrypt$ (c$, adr&, blen) offset = (adr& + blen) AND 15 d$ = STRING$(blen, 0) FOR i = 1 TO blen c = ASC(MID$(c$, i, 1)) crot = ((c * 8) MOD 256) OR (c \ 32) ctst = magic(offset) clss = (2 * (crot AND ctst)) AND 255 d = (256 + crot + ctst - clss) AND 255 MID$(d$, i, 1) = CHR$(d) offset = (offset + 1) AND 15 NEXT decrypt$ = d$ END FUNCTION -------------------cut here------------------------------ Alan Griffiths CAA NERC Project agriffiths(a)vnet.ibm.com Tel: +44-705-561325 Fax: +44-705-214094 All opinions expressed are my own and do not represent IBM in any way

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BIRD BRAINS
by Sandy Sandfort 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, Todd Masco wrote: ... there was a variety of smart-bomb developed in WWII that used a pigeon as its brain. The pigeon would be trained to peck at a building on a map, and then in the falling bomb it would guide the bomb by pecking at a clear panel.... I remember seeing a TV documentary that included this technology. The way it actually worked was that a special steerable bomb had a camera obscura in its nose. An image of whatever was below the falling bomb was rear projected onto a screen made out of frosted glass. The screen was somehow rigged so that it could sense where it was being pecked. The pigeon was immobilized except for its head and neck, but it could easily peck any point on the screen. They use operant conditioning to train the pigeon to peck at images of ships at sea. If the ship was off-center on the screen, the pigeon's pecking would cause airfoils to correct the bomb's aim. Just before the bomb hit, the pigeon would parachute to safety. (I made that last part up.) S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Puzzle Palace
by fhalper＠pilot.njin.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I just finished reading the Puzzle Palace and I thought it was quite interesting Does anyone know where I could find some more info on the NRO and DIA, or even info on what the NSA has been up to for the last ten or so years, besides the obvious. Thanks to whoever recommended the book to me, I don't remember who it was. Reuben -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuben Halper "I'm not growing up, I'm just burnin' out." Montclair High - Green Day - Montclair, NJ E-mail: fhalper(a)pilot.njin.net or PGP 2.6ui Public Key Reuben8878(a)aol.com available upon request --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: NYC C'PUNKS MEETING
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Responding to msg by yusuf921(a)raven.csrv.uidaho.edu (Herbie) on Tue, 4 Oct 4:7 PM > how do we know this isn't an NSA attempt to get us >to show our faces so they can get our photos? > I know that 315 W. 106th is a prison barge moored 500 feet off-shore in the Hudson River toward Jersey. It also serves as a testing laboratory for rubber hoses and the removing of hair and blood therefrom. However, take the address number, semi-reverse, hack by Omega, parse to the left, bend over, chant Dixie in Sanskrit, and the safe house address will appear on your SS card in twisted bar code. Hold the code close to your right lobe, left hand clinched on the chest, whistle Aida diachronically and you will be rocketed to the next station into a soft-landing in a tub of jellied non-alcoholic beverage. Sandy will lift you by the short hairs and take you to the party, provided you have persuasive ID anonymously chain-remailed-via-Tasmania.com.edu.mil.not.penitentiary.fi.foo.f oo/pug/tcmaybe/Censurecon-a-cop. Meet these conditions or trust that Sandy's post is not a set up. Acen

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penet remailer
by fhalper＠pilot.njin.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

What's the status of the penet.fi remailer. Is it secure? Reuben -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuben Halper "I'm not growing up, I'm just burnin' out." Montclair High - Green Day - Montclair, NJ E-mail: fhalper(a)pilot.njin.net or PGP 2.6ui Public Key Reuben8878(a)aol.com available upon request --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: NYC C'PUNKS MEETING
by merriman＠metronet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> > >On Tue, 4 Oct 1994, Sandy Sandfort wrote: > >> C'punks, >> >> If you live in the NYC area or will be visiting this coming >> weekend, you are invited to a Cypherpunks get-together. We will >> be meeting at Linn & Barbara Stanton's apartment on Saturday from >> noon till whenever. The Stanton's live at 315 W. 106th, Apt. 2A >> in Manhattan. This is between West End and Riverside. The >> nearest subway station is on the 1 and 9 lines at 103rd. If you >> need better directions, call them at (212) 316-1958. >> > > > how do we know this isn't an NSA attempt to get us to show our faces so >they can get our photos? > *trust* him.... :-) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Finger merriman(a)metronet.com for PGP/RIPEM public keys and fingerprints. Unencrypted Email may be ignored without notice to sender. PGP preferred. Remember: It is not enough to _obey_ Big Brother; you must also learn to *love* Big Brother.

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Chomsky (thread from hell)
by Gary Jeffers 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I remember Chomsky being quoted (I think in a Mother Jones issue) something to the effect that the opposition to "political correctness" was not legitimate. Apparently, Chomsky finds at least one kind of oppression to be not distasteful. At a Chomsky lecture that I attended, Chomsky described himself as a left libertarian. I surmise that he finds that grassroots oppression by the left to be ok. I realize, of course, that "political correctness" has great mass media & State support. Yours Truly, Gary Jeffers

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NYC C'PUNKS MEETING
by Sandy Sandfort 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, If you live in the NYC area or will be visiting this coming weekend, you are invited to a Cypherpunks get-together. We will be meeting at Linn & Barbara Stanton's apartment on Saturday from noon till whenever. The Stanton's live at 315 W. 106th, Apt. 2A in Manhattan. This is between West End and Riverside. The nearest subway station is on the 1 and 9 lines at 103rd. If you need better directions, call them at (212) 316-1958. We will actually start at noon, so plan to arrive sometime before that hour. Everyone should eat first or bring some snacks with you. Later, if attendees want, we can have food delivered or go out for dinner afterwards. Though I will attempt to hold court, I expect it will be every bit as anarchistic as the Bay Area meetings. Anyone wishing to depose me, is welcome to do so. If someone has something for the "agenda," let me know when you RSVP. Or don't. If you are sure, kinda sure, or think maybe you will attend Saturday, please e-mail me at this address. (If your message bounces, try ssandfort(a)attmail.com) Give me your best guess on the likelihood of your showing; I'd like to have a reasonably accurate estimate of how many we will have. Please feel free to bring anyone you think might be interested/interesting. If possible, let me know that too. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Nom de guerre public key
by nobody＠jpunix.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I'm new at both remailing and PGP, but having read the Cyphernomicon (OK, skimmed it) and various other FAQs, I haven't seen this issue addressed: I've created a pseudonym and a PGP key pair for that pseudonym. Now, how do I secure signatures for my public key, given the fact that (a) to sign it, you should be sure that it really belongs to me, and (b) I have no intention of revealing who "me" actually is? You can't call me on the phone, or meet me face to face, or do any of those other standard practices for confirming the key before signing it. But I sure don't want to use an unsigned, untrusted public key, since I want to make and keep a reputation and I can't risk someone spoofing my public key. ======================================================================= Crim Tideson Privacy is its own justification. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ My public key: - -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6 mQCPAy51e6kAAAEEAMLIkYRAJqKnrQL7Xxmu7hNycUU06YZuR2i3WVxN9Jc6vnoF i7gT6/u7zVI4gmZCTA6mF6SYEFeOiENHaz0wyBNe+8AOIgdaezUsPODMh7UC64k0 YVQTNOiPN9jQAnyCGjPrplSliWT4gHGC796whwJ8CFkwPdpQf6vOblMnt4MdABEB AAG0DENyaW0gVGlkZXNvbg== =pwyo - -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAwUBLo3MxqvOblMnt4MdAQH0jwQAvzbd7b7KpcKdaeGzWUx8aav4WxWJWD9W qwYaVF/WNFFg89+m0K8TztTEcc9QVz3wYvKz1ojOx7IOJl10ZUBXbXrChaDYhbKJ YTU3QeOHN7o8VdzJ3o7z6lK9QqLZhhzQd4VgF9VxR++8LcBVS8AYaVWsfGLv7L2q W+4h4FIR0GE= =Vu2X -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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No Subject
by nobody＠jpunix.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > That being said let it be known that I consider the following as a > "Cypherpunk victory." > > 1. Complete freedom of technology, particularly encryption technology, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > regulated only by market forces. This implies the lack of import/export > restrictions, and a complete absence of projects designed to limit ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > technology, or to standardize it for nefarious ends like Clipper. ^^^^^^^^^^ I think you overgeneralize. No limits on toxic waste incinerators, low-mileage automobiles, unsafe medical devices, genetically tampered food, or nuclear reactors? "Market forces" in such cases positively encourage dangerous technology (e.g. incinerators are superficially cheap) or are marked by their inability to distinguish the good from the crap (e.g. medical devices). We agree about crypto, but not all tech is crypto. :) ======================================================================= Crim Tideson Privacy is its own justification. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAwUBLpCIPqvOblMnt4MdAQEgRgP/XNNQ/T/RvLnd7Rhu8OxCNlXhez8Dqt0h mJfJ172h8QZr0TSr9jxOt6720Z5+lKGZJbP62I5OZEeufifwTXn1Q9Il1Sq4BEWA mUFbs1mu/v88xVReuNXie5e09R7cRa4cZ8W0aGQ2+ceCBTEvJ/z8Cqps93ZucL9j ZDtO93NM78k= =FcUP -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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