Cryptobox (was Re: Edupage, June 20, 2001)

[R. A. Hettinga]

At 5:08 PM -0600 on 6/20/01, EDUCAUSE wrote:


> PRIVATE LIFE
> Researchers at Ottawa University are developing Cryptobox, a
> program that encrypts e-mail, instant messages, and other Internet
> communications. The program works by sending transmissions over
> a peer-to-peer network, scrambling each end of the transmission
> with an encryption code and hiding it underneath a stream of junk
> traffic. The system automatically decodes the transmissions once
> they reach their destinations. The researchers have already
> tested Cryptobox in a network of 40 real and 200 virtual clients
> and report that the test succeeded. Independent researchers are
> skeptical, however. Richard Clayton, a computer scientist at
> Cambridge University, noted, "It's unclear whether they can make
> this work and keep it stable in the real world with millions of
> systems." The program could, if successful on a large scale,
> solve one of the main security vulnerabilities of the Internet.
> Currently, e-mails, instant messages, and many other transmissions
> can be easily intercepted by those with access to key areas of a
> network.
> (New Scientist Online, 18 June 2001)

-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'



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