Fate of Ecash if RSA is cracked?
Hello, After reading Comm. of ACM and Schneier's book about ecash, a question arose: what if the underlying public key cryptographic scheme gets broken somehow? Suppose, for example, that someone discovers an ultra-fast factoring algorithm or something like that. What would happen with all ecash that's been issued? Of course criminals would be able to forge large amounts of authentic-looking ecash, so banks should not be honoring requests to convert e-cash into real cash. I apologize in advance is this question is silly, and will appreciate your corrections. - Igor.
US SEcret Service was always on top of criminal counterfeiting. I make that "criminal" distinction becaue there is allegedly a phenomenon of low-intensity-warfare going on, with Iran sponsoring more-or-less perfect counterfeits of hundred dollar bills. Criminal counterfeiting was a dangerous game. Secret Service pretty much knew every individuial/company who was involved in bona fide use of the relevant papers, inks, engraving/printing equipments, etc., and anyone ordering any of this stuff from the very limited number of suppliers, was placed under watch. It's a small world out there, kids.
Alan Horowitz <alanh@infi.net> writes:
US SEcret Service was always on top of criminal counterfeiting. I make that "criminal" distinction becaue there is allegedly a phenomenon of low-intensity-warfare going on, with Iran sponsoring more-or-less perfect counterfeits of hundred dollar bills.
I wonder what would happen if someone posted PostScript code for printing counterfeit money on a color printer? :-) --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps
ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home) writes:
scheme gets broken somehow? Suppose, for example, that someone discovers an ultra-fast factoring algorithm or something like that.
This'll happen, probably sooner than later. --- Dr. Dimitri Vulis Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps
Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:
ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home) writes:
scheme gets broken somehow? Suppose, for example, that someone discovers an ultra-fast factoring algorithm or something like that.
This'll happen, probably sooner than later.
Hm, how about using two public-key algorithms simultaneously (ie, providing signatures made using two algorithms with each coins)? This way, if one algorithm gets broken, there would be supposedly enough time to make a transition to another method or at least honor the issued ecash. Just curious. Another question: what happens to the ecash issued by a bank if it's secret keys get stolen? Thanks, - Igor.
On Sun, 2 Jun 1996 23:47:32 -0500 (CDT), you wrote:
Another question: what happens to the ecash issued by a bank if it's secret keys get stolen?
The same thing that would happen if someone were to steal the keys to the bank, and the combination to the vault. "Randomness is in the eye of the beholder" --Numerical Recipes gregmi@mis.net (Greg Miller) http://grendel.ius.indiana.edu/~gmiller/
Dr. Dimitri Vulis writes:
ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home) writes:
scheme gets broken somehow? Suppose, for example, that someone discovers an ultra-fast factoring algorithm or something like that.
This'll happen, probably sooner than later.
Why do you assume that? There are plenty of problems that are provably not solvable in non-exponential time even if P=NP. What makes you think this one is going to be solved? .pm
On Sun, 2 Jun 1996 17:42:49 -0500 (CDT), you wrote:
What would happen with all ecash that's been issued? Of course criminals would be able to forge large amounts of authentic-looking ecash, so banks should not be honoring requests to convert e-cash into real cash.
As I understand it, ecash shouldn't be withdrawn until shortly before it is spent. If the RSA algorithm is broken, then then banks could refuse the withdrawal (and depositing) of money as ecash. The remainder of the money in each users' account would have to be withdrawn through conventional methods. Of course all the outstanding (between withdrawl and deposit) ecash could be a problem. "Randomness is in the eye of the beholder" --Numerical Recipes gregmi@mis.net (Greg Miller) http://grendel.ius.indiana.edu/~gmiller/
participants (5)
-
Alan Horowitz -
dlv＠bwalk.dm.com -
gregmi＠galileo.mis.net -
ichudov＠algebra.com -
Perry E. Metzger