[Cryptography] [FORGED] Attackers will always win, and it's getting worse!

Bill Frantz frantz at pwpconsult.com
Wed Jul 12 17:30:30 EDT 2017


On 7/12/17 at 12:37 PM, leichter at lrw.com (Jerry Leichter) wrote:

>>The issues with trusting electronic hardware have become so intractable
>>that for some applications it seems that building mechanical cipher
>>hardware should be reevaluated.
>>
>>No, I am not joking.  :-(
>>
>>No significant bandwidth, no easily automated integration with anything,
>>not really applicable to any type of data except text, absolutely
>>doesn't do public-key encryption ... and is absolutely the only thing
>>you know isn't deliberately manufactured to be electronically broken on
>>demand.
>Who's going to write the first paper on attacking such a device 
>through power analysis of the sounds it makes as it runs?
>
>TANSTAAFL
>-- Jerry

Last year, I saw a 6502 processor implemented in discrete 
components/SSI gate chips. (I can't remember which.) It was 
about a cubic foot and contained a lot more LEDs, which made it 
a light show when operating. I could run some Apple ][ code.

Since it was done as a hobby project, this kind of development 
is not out of reach for an individual effort. Probably an early 
IBM PC 8088 chip is the same scale of effort.

Cheers - Bill


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Bill Frantz        |"After all, if the conventional wisdom was 
working, the
408-356-8506       | rate of systems being compromised would be 
going down,
www.pwpconsult.com | wouldn't it?" -- Marcus Ranum



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