At 02:44 PM 6/5/96 -0700, you wrote:

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"For example a 40-bit key takes about $10,000 worth of supercomputer time and two weeks to crack. Although this key may be adequate to protect my checking account, it's probably not large enough for the accounts of a major corporation. The figures look familiar. No references around. I'm not sure it would require a whole two weeks for 40-bits, though. Possibly less than a day? (Or was that why you asked baout the figures?)

It was from The Newspapers, of course :-) The "$10,000 of supercomputer time" was in an initial press release description by somebody in Netscape or RSA after the RC4/40 Netscape crack, and was way high. (Check Altavista...) However, it's not too far off for the cost of a DES crack, where "supercomputer" is defined as "a special-purpose cracking machine" rather than "a Cray".. (Maybe an order of magnitude high for that.) And the description of $10,000 as "maybe enough to protect my checking account, but not large enough for the accounts of a major corporation" is about right. # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com # http://www.idiom.com/~wcs # Rescind Authority!