Unbreakable? (fwd)

[Ben Laurie]

This suffers from the same flaw as the last proposal: the security lies
in the idea that you can't store the data for long enough to be able to
decrypt the message that says where in the bitstream your data is.
However, this is defeatable by a delay line of sufficient length, just
like the last idea (where, if you remember, the keying material was in
the fast random stream instead).

Cheers,

Ben.

Sean McGrath wrote:
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 15:49:51 -0500
> From: R. A. Hettinga <rah at shipwright.com>
> To: Digital Bearer Settlement List <dbs at philodox.com>, dcsb at ai.mit.edu
> Subject: Unbreakable?
> 
> http://www.idg.net/crd_idgsearch_1.html?url=http://www.cio.com/archive/020102/et_development.html
> 
> UNDER DEVELOPMENT
> Encryption
> Unbreakable?
> 
> AS MYSTICS SEARCH for the lost island of Atlantis and UFO buffs seek out
> alien spacecraft, cryptologists are continuing their own quest to create an
> unbreakable code.
> 
> Michael Rabin, a Harvard University computer science professor, believes he
> has moved cryptology a step closer to its Holy Grail by developing a code
> that's undecipherable, even by those who have access to both the cypher
> text and unlimited computing power.
> 
> Advertisers
> 
> Rabin's Hyper-Encryption technology, which uses a device that quickly
> generates a deluge of random bits, relies on both time and money to thwart
> even the most dedicated code breaker. A coded message would be hidden
> within the bits "like raisins in a pudding," quips Rabin. While anyone can
> read the random bits, the transmission rate is so high that storing all of
> the stream for analysis would be either technically unfeasible or cost
> prohibitive.
> 
> Hyper-Encryption has sparked the interest of several U.S. government
> agencies, says Rabin. He also claims to have received inquiries from some
> wealthy investors and at least one major venture capital fund. But Rabin
> states he's not currently interested in the technology's commercial
> potential. "Right now, commerce comes second to science," he says.
> 
> Hyper-Encryption, however, is not entirely trouble free. The chief concern
> is cost, since the technology requires users to send continuous, intense
> streams of high-speed data across already bandwidth-starved networks.
> Rabin's solution is to create a dedicated global satellite system. "The
> cost could be shared by its users," he says. In any case, Hyper-Encryption
> is designed to safeguard highest-level government secrets, not routine
> commercial and personal transmissions. "It's most appropriate for
> protecting national interests and large sums of money," says Rabin.
> 
> Although Hyper-Encryption exists only on the blackboard, Rabin maintains
> that the technology is ready for use. "There's mathematical proof the
> Hyper-Encryption provides everlasting security, so there's nothing left to
> do but implement it," he says.
> 
> -John Edwards
> 
> --
> -----------------
> 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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