Timothy C. May writes:

...

Integration of crypto into Netscape is thus the Big Win. Crypto *is* integrated into Netscape. Unfortunately, the crypto is SSL -- a complete waste of time. [snip] Perry

This is why it's imperative for cpunks to work on the SSL challenge recently posted. Cracking 40 bit RC4 will provide a strong industry incentive to move towards stronger crypto standards, and to pressure the government to relax ITAR. If the SSL crack looks like it will take a while to gear up, perhaps we should work on an interim project, cracking a straight 40bit rc4 encrypted message. If there is interest, I can create such a text, and escrow the key and plaintext in a PGP-encoded posting. While such a crack will not be as strong a blow against SSL and 40-bit crypto as cracking a complete SSL transaction, it will be a lot better then only being able to say 'Well, we didn't find a key, but we *did* sweep 40 bits of keyspace', which is all we have now. If need be, we can follow up with a crack of full-bore SSL. Disclaimer: I work on a competing product, but am posting this in my private capacity. We've bigger fish to fry than Netscape. Peter Trei ptrei@acm.org Peter Trei Senior Software Engineer Purveyor Development Team Process Software Corporation trei@process.com