Hmmm... A cracking challenge that doesn't appear to be snake oil... As reported in PCweek Found at http://www.certicom.com/challenge.htm Certicom Packs more than a Decade of Research into its ECC Challenge Certicom has created and launched an ECC Challenge, giving cryptographers and mathematicians who are new to the Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem (ECC) the benefit of hands-on experience with elliptic curve algebra. The Certicom ECC Challenge is the result of research and development into ECC by Certicom's cryptographic experts. The Certicom ECC Challenge, posted at Certicom's web site, is expected to draw participation from cryptographers and mathematicians around the world, giving them the opportunity to work with elementary elliptic curve algebraic problems and test their own knowledge against what are internationally recognized to be difficult and infeasible problems. "We believe the Certicom ECC Challenge is a great way for those cryptographers and mathematicians who are looking to expand their knowledge of elliptic curve algebra to form a strong appreciation for the security of ECC," said Dr. Scott A. Vanstone, Certicom's Chief Cryptographer. Participants in the Certicom ECC Challenge must try to compute an ECC private key at a particular key size, given the corresponding ECC public key and a set of parameters. As a lead-up to the Challenge, Certicom has included a set of Exercise problems, the simplest of which should be solved in a matter of hours following the Challenge's launch. Prizes will be awarded for the first correct answer to each of the Exercises. Mathematical software to facilitate cryptography-related computations and a copy of the Handbook of Applied Cryptography will be awarded for the 79 and 89-bit Exercises, and US$5,000 for the 97-bit Exercises. Prizes have also been set for both Level I and II Challenge problems, including those which are considered infeasible based on current knowledge and available computing capabilities. The highest prize is US$100,000 to find a 359-bit ECC private key. The elliptic curves for the Level II Challenges meet the stringent security requirements imposed by forthcoming ANSI banking standards, specifically ANSI X9.62 and X9.63. Visit Certicom's web site for ongoing status report of the ECC Challenge. Go to the Certicom ECC Challenge For more information about ECC, check out Certicom's ECC Tutorials and Whitepapers. === E-mail: amp@pobox.com Date: 11/21/97 Time: 04:36:03 Visit me at http://www.pobox.com/~amp -export-a-crypto-system-sig -RSA-3-lines-PERL #!/bin/perl -sp0777i<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<j]dsj $/=unpack('H*',$_);$_=`echo 16dio\U$k"SK$/SM$n\EsN0p[lN*1 lK[d2%Sa2/d0$^Ixp"|dc`;s/\W//g;$_=pack('H*',/((..)*)$/) Have you seen http://www.public-action.com/SkyWriter/WacoMuseum ===