From: | The Reverend <mdb0213@******.TAMU.EDU> |
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Subject: | Sneakernet and Non-secure cryptography. |
Date: | Fri, 3 Dec 1993 10:05:36 -0600 |
I don't know whether or not this is likely to happen, though I doubt that it
would in the way that she thought.
Proposition: the "box" from Sneakers exists. This is unlikely, although now
there are machines that can break DES in a matter of hours. (If the machines
don't exist, then I know that someone just recently published a paper on how
to do it, with an inverse correlation between time to crack and millions spent)
Consequences:
Computer security would take a nosedive. If you have a box that can
decrypt anything, extremely sensitive information is going to be either
(a) moved off of the matrix. More of those "independent" systems that you
see occasionally in modules. Computers that have a lot more physical
security on them than cryptographic.
(b) moved off of computers. Paper comes back as the premier carrier of
confidential information. Sneakernet comes back with a VENGENANCE,
couriers become fairly important, seeing as they would be one of the
few ways of moving confidential infomation from one place to the other.
It would be more important for people to be able to verify that the
info received is the correct stuff. More in-person meetings, perhaps?
Any comments, ideas, mints?
Rev
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The Reverend "They called me the Reverend when I entered the church unstained"
Fear the Information Revolution...for it has reached the hands of the strange.
PGP 2.2 Public Key Block available upon request