http://www.thestandard.net/articles/display/0,1449,1780,00.html German Court Ruling Another Blow To U.S. Encryption Standard By Mary Lisbeth D'Amico MUNICH - A German district court has ordered a bank in Frankfurt to repay a customer 4,543 marks (US$2,699) for money withdrawn from her bank account after her bank card was stolen. The decision, made public Monday, again points to the holes in the 56-bit encryption technology used in Eurocheque cards, called EC Cards, according to the Chaos Computer Club, a German hackers group. Calling the encryption technology for the EC bank cards "out-of-date and not safe enough," a Frankfurt District Court held the bank responsible for the amount stolen from the 72-year old plaintiff in February 1997. Neither the bank's name or that of the plaintiff were revealed. An EC card is like a bank card which can be used at bank automats and point-of-sale terminals throughout Europe. The cards feature the U.S. government's data encryption standard, which uses 56-bit encrypted code to scramble the security information. [Rest snipped]