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From: "Chris Adams" <adamsc@io-online.com> To: "cypherpunks" <cypherpunks@toad.com> Date: Wed, 29 May 96 22:36:17 Reply-To: "Chris Adams" <adamsc@io-online.com> Priority: Normal X-Mailer: PMMail 1.5 UNREGISTERED SHAREWARE MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: INteresting tidbit
On the Encryption note, and I swear not along the lines of the 'DOJ' and 'FBI Snooping' Big-Brother events, I heard another story recently.
# begin story
A person working on the MBONE project did an unannounced experiment across the internet using Triple-DES for MBONE, and the very next day, 'ATF' agents knocked on his door and warned him against exporting munitions. The experimentor was shaken by the fact that agents approached him so quickly after the experiment.
# end story
Extrapolations of fact: 1. Internet traffic is monitored. 2. The ability to snoop for encrypted traffic is present 3. The ability to identify encryption levels is present (How else can they differentiate DES-1 from DES-3?) 4. The ability to crack DES-1 in near real-time mode is present. (See above). First, this has been loosely confirmed for ages. Someone was mentioning
5. If above=true, then Feds dropping the Zimmerman PGP case probably also points to it also being crackable in a similar manner. Not necessarily. This freemen issue shows that the FBI is getting gunshy about bad
that FBI offices supposedly have software that (on a 486) can crack a DES-1 key in under an hour. Multiply * modern high capacity computers = problem. However, this does not nessesarily follow from #3. First off, you could probably tell the encryption used from a file format; the software on the other end has to know what it's getting. Secondly, you could probably tell quite a lot about what was used by some intense analysis. Finally, if their software cannot read it and analysis suggested it was more than DES-1 then they might go after someone w/o being able to read the document in question. publicity, which they were getting.
6. Using encryption only flags traffic for capture and decryption, using strong encryption makes you all that more interesting. Sounds like the old argument for encrypting everything...
Sorry, couldn't resist. I'll try not to start a threads about electro-plasma propulsion craft at Area 51, metallic-ceramic skin and pulse-jets on the Aurora spy plane, heat-imaging video cameras on satellites and planes that can watch you through your houses' roof, etc. :)
What??? Now you're going to tell us X-Files is just a TV show? <g> This Message Was Sent With An UNREGISTERED Version Of PMMail. Please Encourage Its Author To Register Their Copy Of PMMail. For More Information About PMMail And SouthSide Software's Other Products, Contact http://www.southsoft.com. ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== /* From Chris Adams <adamsc@io-online.com> on a Warped PC running a proudly unregistered (for now) PMMAIL 1.5! The Enigman Group - We do Web Pages! */ This Message Was Sent With An UNREGISTERED Version Of PMMail. Please Encourage Its Author To Register Their Copy Of PMMail. For More Information About PMMail And SouthSide Software's Other Products, Contact http://www.southsoft.com.