I'm giving a presentation at the RSA Data Security Conference in January, 1998. The title is "Key Cracking for fun and Profit: The Year in Review". The main topic will be the activity spawned by the RSA Secret Key Challenges, though I'll include other brute-force and factoring efforts, in 1997 or before. If you have taken part in a key search, and/or have any thoughts on the topic you'd like to share, I hope you'll send them to me at trei@ziplink.net. I'm particularly interested in finding out about some of the less-known efforts - for example, the DES effort rumored to have taken place at SGI, and the early, abortive RC5/56 effort at a New York site. Stories, anecdotes, and issues raised by the efforts are all welcomed. Responses will be kept confidential if desired. Thanks, Peter Trei trei@ziplink.net DISCLAIMER: The above are my own views, should not be misconstrued to represent those of my employer.