- Email: [email protected]
Cipher cracking
205
Random Bits & Bytes
Technology & Business Communications Inc., 730 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, MA 01776 USA.
string of 59 a and one b: = %(;79%“IM:
LI#A
+“‘//.
The final set, again 60 character no key. The first string was named second B. B:
Cipher Cracking
strings, used A.A and the
string of the letter a: The ability of an attacker to break an encryption algorithm depends upon the sophistication of the attacker. There are a number of programs available to break ciphers and several are written in BASIC. Encryption programs are available with different levels of security. Many of the proprietary programs are effective against snoopers and those who do not have the time and/or means to break them. For readers interested in the security of some of the commonly available packages today, we strongly recommend reading Martin Kochanski’s “A Survey of Data Insecurity Packages ” in the January 1987 issue of CRYPTOLOGIA. Mr. Kochanski, who is a specialist in this area, explains the methods of attack and dissects such programs as Borland’s SuperKey (tm), Sovereign Software’s Padlock (tm), Stalfors Data Products’ PS3 (tm), BCS of West Germany’s Crypt (tm), and K + L Software’s N-Code (tm). For those readers for whom cryptography is a hobby, we have included several ciphertexts from the XPACK package mentioned in this issue’s column. The first set used the key, highland and all were 70 characters long: string of 70 letters
a:
string of 69 a and one b: + ” + ,)
string of one b and 69 a: = T?K]RYD/G[ZGWl
> Y6 & D6 +“‘/.
string of the letter b: = %(G6$U
> Y6&D6
+” + ,).
The second set consists of 60 character strings, the minimum recommended for use with the XPACK package. The letter, a, was used as a key:
This should keep some of our cryptographers busy for a while. I would like to hear from anyone W ho cracks the encryption algorithm.
Companies Mentioned in this Article Addison-Wesley
Reading,
Publishing Company
MA USA
American Programmers
Guild, Ltd.
12 Mill Plain Road Danbury CT 06811 USA Telephone: l-203-794-0396 Computer Security Institute 360 Church
Street Northborough, MA 01532 USA Telephone: l-617-393-2600 Little, Brown & Company 34 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02106 USA
Longman, Inc. 95 Church
Street White Plains, NY 10601 USA
Theory Newsletter National Technical Information Service United States Department of Commerce 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 USA Tel.: l-703-487-4650 Telex: 64617 Warren,
Corham & Lament,
210 South Street
Boston, MA 02111 USA
string of the letter a: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
= %(G7$U
+“(#*.
NTIS Computer, Control and Information
=5&?=KY’?@G*6+“+,( = 5 & 3 = R)D/G[ZGWl
= %(G7$U
> Y6 & D6 +“‘/.
One Wiley Drive Somerset, NJ 08873 USA
Inc.
Abstract
Random Bits & Bytes
Technology & Business Communications Inc., 730 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, MA 01776 USA.
string of 59 a and one b: = %(;79%“IM:
LI#A
+“‘//.
The final set, again 60 character no key. The first string was named second B. B:
Cipher Cracking
strings, used A.A and the
string of the letter a: The ability of an attacker to break an encryption algorithm depends upon the sophistication of the attacker. There are a number of programs available to break ciphers and several are written in BASIC. Encryption programs are available with different levels of security. Many of the proprietary programs are effective against snoopers and those who do not have the time and/or means to break them. For readers interested in the security of some of the commonly available packages today, we strongly recommend reading Martin Kochanski’s “A Survey of Data Insecurity Packages ” in the January 1987 issue of CRYPTOLOGIA. Mr. Kochanski, who is a specialist in this area, explains the methods of attack and dissects such programs as Borland’s SuperKey (tm), Sovereign Software’s Padlock (tm), Stalfors Data Products’ PS3 (tm), BCS of West Germany’s Crypt (tm), and K + L Software’s N-Code (tm). For those readers for whom cryptography is a hobby, we have included several ciphertexts from the XPACK package mentioned in this issue’s column. The first set used the key, highland and all were 70 characters long: string of 70 letters
a:
string of 69 a and one b: + ” + ,)
string of one b and 69 a: = T?K]RYD/G[ZGWl
> Y6 & D6 +“‘/.
string of the letter b: = %(G6$U
> Y6&D6
+” + ,).
The second set consists of 60 character strings, the minimum recommended for use with the XPACK package. The letter, a, was used as a key:
This should keep some of our cryptographers busy for a while. I would like to hear from anyone W ho cracks the encryption algorithm.
Companies Mentioned in this Article Addison-Wesley
Reading,
Publishing Company
MA USA
American Programmers
Guild, Ltd.
12 Mill Plain Road Danbury CT 06811 USA Telephone: l-203-794-0396 Computer Security Institute 360 Church
Street Northborough, MA 01532 USA Telephone: l-617-393-2600 Little, Brown & Company 34 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02106 USA
Longman, Inc. 95 Church
Street White Plains, NY 10601 USA
Theory Newsletter National Technical Information Service United States Department of Commerce 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 USA Tel.: l-703-487-4650 Telex: 64617 Warren,
Corham & Lament,
210 South Street
Boston, MA 02111 USA
string of the letter a: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
= %(G7$U
+“(#*.
NTIS Computer, Control and Information
=5&?=KY’?@G*6+“+,( = 5 & 3 = R)D/G[ZGWl
= %(G7$U
> Y6 & D6 +“‘/.
One Wiley Drive Somerset, NJ 08873 USA
Inc.
Abstract